Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Parenting A Child Who Has An Autistic Sibling: Effects On Adjustment And Mental Health, Jess Del Mundo

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This capstone project focuses on informing parents about the challenges and needs of siblings of children with autism. Parenting is a profound and meaningful responsibility, and having children with special needs adds to this daunting job. It is imperative for parents to nurture the development and awareness of all of their children, both neurodivergent and neurotypical. This workshop will give parents the tools to navigate this responsibility. I developed a workshop that first informs parents about the positive outcomes for children who have siblings with autism, such as higher levels of empathy and compassion. Second, I will address the challenges …

The Effect Of The Degree Of Authoritative Parenting On Adolescents' Adjustment To College, Elizabeth Smith

Senior Theses

This research aimed to explore how parenting style relates to college students’ adjustment in the first month of college. Authoritative parenting is marked by a standard of maintaining some control, while also promoting children’s autonomy. Previous research has found that authoritative parenting is positively associated with adolescent behavior that is more socially responsible, self-reliant, cheerful, and cooperative. Furthermore, the more support and independence that parents encourage, will in turn breed confidence and academic persistence in adolescent years. I will expand on this research by evaluating whether parenting style also relates to adjustment and mental health outcomes among first year college …

Strengthening Mindfulness And Social Support As Psychosocial Skills; Improving First-Year Student’S Adjustment Into College, Raumilya Smith

WWU Graduate School Collection

Extensive research exists regarding the challenges and risk of negative outcomes first-year students face while transitioning into college. Given that psychosocial factors predict adaptive coping and adjustment in the presence of transition stressors, this study examined the efficacy of mindfulness and social support trainings in fostering psychosocial skills and adjustment among college freshmen. Fifty Western Washington University first-year students (75.7% white, 13.5% Hispanic or Latinx, 12.2% Asian, 4.1% Black, 1.4% Native American or Alaska Native, and 9.5% multiracial) participated. Students were randomly assigned to one of the two trainings and were measured pre- and post- training on psychosocial skills (mindfulness, …

A Comparison Of Sorority Women And Non-Sorority Women’S Alcohol Use: Perception, Rate Of Use, And Consequences, Betsy Zimmerman

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

While alcohol use and Greek Life on college campuses have often become synonymous, little is known about the rate of use or the consequences of use for sorority women specifically. Gender has been identified as a risk factor relating to substance use on college campuses; however, there is a gap in the literature concerning compounding factors that influence substance abuse, such as membership in a Greek-lettered organization. With approximately 300,000 college women involved in Greek-lettered organizations annually (NPC, 2019), little is known about the impact of alcohol use for sorority women on college adjustment. An exploration of the perception of …

Exploration Into The Graduate International Student Narratives, Diana Budoff

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

Multiple researchers have conveyed an abundance of problems international students face when choosing to study abroad in the United States. A range of emotional, psychological, and physical issues prevent students from fully succeeding. Every international student faces different challenges, and every educational institution has its own prominent issues. In my study, I examined the challenges graduate international students at the University of San Diego (USD) face that might impede them from fully transitioning and adapting to their new environment. I used a mixed-methods approach (interviews and focus groups) to understand the issues impacting the transition and adaptation of international students …

Preserving My Arab Self While Finding My Home In Canada: First Generation Recent Arab Immigrant Emerging Adults’ Perspectives On Acculturation Experiences And Canadian Society’S Role In Fostering Equitable Participation, Riham Al-Saadi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the essence of Arab immigrant emerging adults’ acculturation is a developing area of research and cultural studies in Social Work amongst other fields. Critical Race Theory (CRT) allows for contextualizing this phenomenon within the temporal and environmental structures in which it is experienced. The current study used qualitative inquiry; particularly psychological phenomenology was applied to arrive at the essence of acculturation. A total of 27 Arab immigrant emerging adults living in Windsor-Essex participated in this study and five themes emerged to inform how they understand the acculturation process. Arab immigrant emerging adults understand acculturation as a mutual dedication of …

Development And Evaluation Of An Object Relations Measure For The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank, John Thomas Rucker Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Personality assessment measures provide useful insight into the characteristic dispositions and psychological makeup of clinical populations and are routinely utilized by mental health professionals to guide treatment and case conceptualizations. Most widely used psychological measures include indicators of interpersonal functioning. Personality presentations with dysfunctional interpersonal styles may include underlying maladaptive object relations, which serve as the mental templates for social interchange and interpersonal dynamics. The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB) is the most widely used sentence completion method and is often included in personality assessment batteries in evaluating an examinee’s level of adjustment and/or maladjustment. This study sought to develop …

Clear Adjustment: Status Self-Concept Clarity And Emotion Regulation, Isidro Landa

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One factor associated with a person’s adjustment during important life transitions is self-concept clarity (SCC)—“the extent to which the contents of an individual's self-concept (e.g., perceived personal attributes) are clearly and confidently defined…”. However, it is not fully understood why and for whom SCC predicts adjustment. Recent work suggests that SCC may function as a resource for regulatory functions, allowing one to focus on long-term self-relevant goals rather than narrowly focusing on regulating immediate discomfort associated with uncertainty. It is possible that having high SCC facilitates emotion regulation in such a way that it allows one to engage and further …

A Comprehensive Investigation Of Social Status Insecurity In Adolescents, Yunyi Long

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Surrounded by peers who pay increasing attention to social status, adolescents may experience growing concerns about their standing among peers such as feeling that their status being threatened by others or being not as high as they want. These types of social status related concerns are referred to as social status insecurity (SSI; Li, Wang, Wang, & Shi, 2010). Although SSI is a relatively new research topic, a few pioneering studies have found the presence of this issue among adolescents in different cultures and have identified some negative impacts of SSI on adolescents’ behavioral development, such as increased use of …

Stress, Coping, And Adjustment Of Young Adults Who Have Transitioned Out Of Foster Care, Helen S. Hogin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current research lacked information on the stress, coping, and adjustment of individuals transitioning to adulthood from foster care. Transitioning out of foster care when adulthood is reached can be challenging, resulting in mental and physical health problems, decline in overall wellbeing, and poor outcomes. Elevated stress can make coping and adjusting to social life more difficult. The purpose of this study was to explore former foster youths’ perspectives and experiences of stress and what coping strategies were effective as they adjusted to society. The transactional model of stress and coping served as the study’s framework. The research questions focused on …

Birth Mothers’ Experiences Of Support Before, During, And After Adoptive Placement, Ciara Watkins

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

The current study explores the perceptions and experiences of support in a sample of birth mothers who relinquished parental rights though open or closed private adoption (e.g., religiously, and non-religiously affiliated private adoption agencies, adoption attorneys). Participants (N = 51) were birth mothers who placed a child for adoption at birth or within several months and who relinquished parenting rights 8 months to 50 years ago, with (M = 15.39) years since placement. A thematic analysis uncovered six overarching themes throughout the relinquishment process. Further, prevalence of themes in certain phases (i.e., pre-placement, during placement, post-placement) were shared among all …

Towards A Developmental Theory Of Coping: The Structure And Function Of Coping In Emerging Adults, Virginia Diane Peisch

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Coping plays an important role in human adaptation and well-being. However, surprisingly little is currently known about the normative development of coping. The ‘coping families’ framework, outlined by Skinner and colleagues (2003), provides a promising approach to the study of coping in developmental samples. The current examination tested the coping families approach in emerging adults. A total of 425 individuals (63.5% female), aged 18-31 years (M age 25.04 years), were recruited online through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to complete questionnaires on demographic information, personality, childhood adversity, stress, coping behaviors in response to an interpersonal problem, mental health, emerging adult identity, …

Adjustment To Life In America: Black African Graduate Level Students, Denver Daniels

Masters Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine what challenges Black African graduate students face when adjusting to life in the United States. A secondary concern was to examine what coping strategies were used during the transition. A qualitative approach was used to interview the participants and through coding, develop themes related to their time as graduate students.

This study concluded that there were a number of issues that Black African graduate students face. The students reported that they experienced homesickness, culture shock, and discrimination during their time at school. Specific themes also emerged as to how they coped with …

Social Withdrawal And Indices Of Adjustment And Maladjustment In Adolescence: Does Parent Warmth And Extraversion Matter?, Mallory Abigail Millett

Theses and Dissertations

Social withdrawal is often associated with a number of indices of adjustment and maladjustment, but little research exists that attempts to uncover potential protective factors. This study longitudinally examined the moderating role of parent extraversion and parent warmth on the association between two types of social withdrawal (shyness and unsociability) and later indices of adjustment and maladjustment. Participants were 463 families from the flourishing families project. Results showed no longitudinal associations between social withdrawal and later indices of adjustment or maladjustment. However, when parent extraversion was added as a moderator, shyness was positively associated with prosocial behavior for those with …

The Relations Of Religiosity, Social Support, And Acculturation Attitudes Among Refugees, Carolyn H. Casada

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Refugees are entering the United States in increasing numbers. Identifying factors that promote successful acculturation is an important task for those working to help refugees. As religiosity and social support have previously been linked to better mental health outcomes in refugees, they should be considered when examining acculturation. Using the Duke University Religious Index, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and the Acculturation Attitudes Scale, this study examined the relations between religiosity, perceived social support, and acculturation strategies. Additional variables examined were number of migrations, language of religious services currently attended, and religious services demographics. Hypotheses were that scores …

What Happens Here Stays Here? Associations Between Choices During The Twenties And Flourishing Or Floundering During The Thirties, Melanie Lynn Lott

Theses and Dissertations

Life course theory suggests that an individual’s development is influenced by many factors such as one’s past choices and environment. The twenties are a period of great autonomy for many young people with opportunities to engage in choices with lasting consequences, both positive (e.g., furthering education, volunteering) and negative (e.g., crime, risky sexual behavior, heavy video game use). The current study explored the relationship between behaviors during one’s twenties and indices of adjustment (i.e., life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and hope) and maladjustment (i.e., poor emotional health and regret) in one’s thirties. Additionally, as factors such as income and biological sex …

Vietnamese Family Caregivers’ Adjustment Process To Their Caregiving Roles For Family Members With Dementia, Trang Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the psychological process that Vietnamese family members go through to adjust to the caregiving role for their relatives with dementia. Adopting constructivist grounded theory, 30 face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, including 10 follow-up interviews, were conducted with 20 Vietnamese primary family caregivers of relatives with dementia from the National Geriatric Hospital in Vietnam. The study results reveal that Vietnamese family caregivers held limited understanding of dementia. They used a mixed explanatory model, combining both folk (e.g., dementia as normal aging) and biomedical approaches (e.g., dementia as a brain-related disease) to explain causes of dementia. Family cohesion and responsibility are …

Emotion Regulation Variability And Adjustment Among College Students, Isidro Landa

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Conflict Styles And Children’S Adjustment In The Chinese Context: The Role Of Psychological Control And Mother-Child Conflict Resolution, Xiaoyan Zhang

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this research is to examine how interparental conflict and conflict styles (overt, covert and avoidant) influence children’s adjustment directly and indirectly through maternal psychological control and mother-child conflict resolution among Chinese children. Paper-pencil survey data were collected from 111 mother-child dyads of children aged from 11 to 14 from Shantou, Guangdong, China. Results of this research revealed that interparental conflict was not associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors. This study also found a very weak linear relationship between overt conflict style and externalizing behaviors and between covert and avoidant conflict styles and internalizing behaviors. In addition, maternal …

The Relationship Between Maternal Distress And Adjustment Problems In Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: An Examination Of Family Routines And Communication As Moderators, Ryan Nicole Cummins

LSU Master's Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a common disorder in youth. The presence of comorbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms is a frequent occurrence in ADHD youth; comorbid symptoms are associated with poor adjustment into adolescence and negative trajectories into adulthood. There are many contributing factors in the development of comorbid symptoms (e.g., parental distress and family environment). Thus, it is important to understand the relationship between contributing factors and the ways in which family consistency helps to manage problem behaviors in adolescents with ADHD. One way to increase consistency is through the use of routines and positive communication. The present study examined …

The Relationship Between Attachment, Self-Regulation, And Resilience In Undergraduate Students' College Adjustment, Scott Tanner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Difficulty adjusting to college life is noted in nearly 20% of freshmen who fail to return to college. The purpose of this quantitative survey design study, grounded in attachment theory, was to investigate the best predictor (e.g., secure parental attachment, self-regulation, or resilience) of college adaptation, the combined contribution of the variables in predicting college adaptation, and whether a bivariate relationship existed between the variables and subcomponents of college adaptation. The Connor Davidson Resilience Scale Revised, Parental Attachment Questionnaire, Short Self-Regulation Questionnaire, and Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire were securely administered online to a sample of 68 full-time students from …

A Therapeutic Storybook For Adjustment And Acculturation In Middle Eastern Refugee Children, Christina E. Zawalski

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The current global sociopolitical climate has resulted in the influx of refugees to the United States from all over the world. Those coming from the Middle East represent a large portion of refugees in the U.S., and children within this group make up a large percentage. The refugee process is characterized by stressful experiences in the premigration, migration, and resettlement stages. These experiences put refugee children at risk for distress and other mental health difficulties. Refugees must learn how to adjust and acculturate once in the host country, which can be a difficult task. Teachers are in a unique position …

Military Lifestyle’S Impact On Children’S Adjustment, Ashley N. Doss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Military families are an understudied population and the majority of research that does exist focuses on the effects of deployments on the family system. This study aims to answer the following questions: 1) “to what degree does the relationship with parents (mother and father) and military lifestyle (number of transfers and number of deployments) predict the variance in military children’s self-esteem?”, 2) “To what degree does the relationship with parents (mother and father) and military lifestyle (number of transfers and number of deployments) predict the variance in military children’s social belongingness?”, and 3) “To what degree does the relationship with …

The Effects Of Transracial Adoption On Adjustment And Identity Development, Krystle Dandridge

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A plethora of studies have focused on transracial adoption. While these studies have looked at identity development and/or adjustment, they lacked the investigation into some possible causes to include feelings of belongingness as well as socioeconomic status. The current study explored the lack of cultural socialization and belongingness of people adopted into an environment culturally dissimilar from their birth culture. The nonexperimental, correlational design study examined the relationship between adjustment and identity development, and the impact of transracial adoption when considering socioeconomic status and skin tone. The New Immigrant Survey Skin Color Scale, Multiethnic Identity Measure, and Measure of Psychosocial …

Exploring The Experience Of Separation In Australia: Perspectives From Formerly Married And Cohabiting Parents, Sarah M. Barbas

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The increase in separation and divorce rates during the 20th century brought with it many far-reaching social implications for all involved, sparking a high level of interest among researchers. Most research in this area has been approached from stress frameworks that have conceptualised separation and divorce as a stressful life transition that individuals must adjust to. Yet, attempts to understand separation and divorce to date have been dominated by quantitative methods that have resulted in a relatively static and objective understanding of this experience; particularly in Australia. Furthermore, although international rates of divorce are declining, rates of separation following cohabiting …

Exploring The Unique Experiences Of Biological Children In A Foster Family, Alana Marsh

Honors Projects

:The purpose of the following research was to identify the experiences and needs of biological children in a foster family. An online survey was sent to licensed foster families from a private agency. The survey included questions about the experiences, both positive and negative, of biological children before foster youth enter the home, during their stay, and after they exit the home. Analysis of 21 survey answers and thorough review of literature indicated significant lack of available resources for foster parents to utilize when preparing their biological children for this family change. Results also showed that children held damaging misconceptions …

Identifying Profiles Of Resilience Among A High-Risk Adolescent Population, Anna W. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether distinct patterns of adolescent adjustment existed when four domains of functioning were considered. The study included a sample of 299 high-risk urban adolescents, predominantly African American, ages 9-16 and their maternal caregivers. Cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of adjustment. Logistic regression analyses were used to explore whether variations in levels of five theoretically and empirically supported protective factors predicted cluster membership. A four-cluster model was determined to best fit the data. Higher rates of goal directedness and anger regulation coping predicted membership within the highest functioning cluster over …

Why Do Some Employees Readjust To Their Home Organizations Better Than Others? Job Demands-Resources Model Of Repatriation Adjustment, Yukiko Yamasaki

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The present study applied the Demands-Resources Model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) to investigate factors related to repatriate adjustment. Specifically, this study proposed three organizational factors (role ambiguity, lack of work autonomy, and absence of pre-training) as job demands, which would inhibit adjustment of repatriates. The second part of this study identified three personal characteristics (openness, cultural intelligence, and proactivity) as job resources and examined whether these characteristics would minimize the negative effects of the job demands on repatriate adjustment. Repatriate adjustment was assessed as expatriate adjustment (Black & Stephens, 1989), job stress (Lambert, Hogan, & Griffin, 2007), job satisfaction (Warr, …

The Effect Of Acculturative In The Psychological Adjustment Of Immigrant Hispanic Parents, Estela Garcia

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hispanic immigrant parents are a growing yet understudied population. Few studies have addressed the relationship between Hispanic immigrant parents and the acculturation process. The purpose of this study was to determine how acculturative stress, racism, language proficiency, poor coping style, and low levels of social support affect the psychological adjustment of Hispanic immigrant parents. Using the framework of acculturation theory, this quantitative study examined 92 immigrant Hispanic parents from an urban northeast school in the United States. Several established instruments that measured racism, coping style, language proficiency, social support, and psychological distress were used. The results of the multiple regression …

Coping And Adjustment Of Spouses Of International Students At South Dakota State University, Elizabeth Nayebare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated acculturation of female spouses of international students to life in Brookings, specifically, how they cope and adjust. It was guided by the following questions: what are the socio-economic and cultural attributes of female spouses, and how do they impact their ability to cope and adjust to life in Brookings; what strategies and activities do spouses of international students rely on or develop in order to adjust and cope with life in the United States (Brookings); and what are the processes and experiences of coping and adjustment among spouses of different professional and cultural backgrounds? The investigation was …