Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Withstanding Cruel Teasing: Does Dispositional Mindfulness Fortify Target Immunity?, Ruth Catherine Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cruel teasing can be pernicious for targets' psychological health. In this thesis I examined the extent to which trait mindfulness might mitigate the negative psychological effects associated with cruel teasing. Correlation results confirmed cruel teasing history related significantly and directly, and mindfulness inversely, to poorer psychological health. Moderated regression analyses confirmed that among targets of frequent cruel teasing those with high levels of mindfulness did not evidence the detrimental psychological effects as did those low in mindfulness. Subsequent moderated regression analyses with cruel teasing history, mindfulness, and sexual identity status suggest that when people are low in mindfulness cruel teasing …

Validation Of The Self-Compassion Scale: Correlations With The Beck Depression Inventory-Ii, Pär Daniel Andréasson

Master's Theses

Self-compassion denotes a compassionate and empathic attitude toward oneself (Neff, 2003b). In the past decade, the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) has been used to measure self-compassion in individuals and its effects on social, psychological, and physiological functioning. While many studies have found positive effects of high self- compassion showing promise for the use of the construct in clinical and empirical applications, there is a dearth of literature regarding the psychometric properties of the SCS. Furthermore, previous studies have not evaluated the individual subscales of the SCS as they relate to other inventories. This study evaluated the SCS and its subscales in …

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 …

An Exploratory Study Of The Potential Impacts Of Yoga On Self And Community: Creating Mindfulness, Self-Actualization And Social Capital, Lauren Ponder

All Theses

ABSTRACT
Yoga, literally translated means yoke or connection and is a process by which relationships, respect and transformation can occur. It is believed that mindfulness is a result of the practice of yoga and can be easily understood in its opposite of mindlessness. When change takes place within self, or one's own body and mind, both positive transformation towards more conscious action and mindfulness is hypothesized to be transferred to one's community. Community is self-defining in that it is based on a sense of shared purpose and common goals. Yogis, those who practice yoga, could be responsible for a positive …

Preventing Guilt By Association: Mindfulness And Susceptibility To Evaluative Conditioning, Laura Kiken

Theses and Dissertations

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is a type of attitude formation in which a stimulus is evaluated as positive or negative based on repeated pairings with valenced stimuli. Emerging evidence suggests that individuals differ in susceptibility to EC and these differences may be related to various social and psychological biases. One variable that has been linked with less negative attitude formation, although not using an EC paradigm, is mindfulness. Further, mindfulness is proposed to alter dimensions of elaboration that may underlie EC, particularly conditioning of negative attitudes. Therefore, three studies were conducted to examine whether mindfulness is linked to differential susceptibility to …

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 …

The Impact Of Mindfulness On Exposure And Extinction Processes In Social Anxiety, Michael Treanor

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

The present study sought to examine the potential impact of brief mindfulness inductions to enhance exposure and extinction processes in social anxiety. Mindfulness may enhance extinction through increased awareness of multiple conditioned excitors (thereby "overpredicting" the occurrence of an aversive outcome) or by acting as a retrieval cue to mitigate return of fear. Twenty-two participants high in social anxiety were recruited to participate in a series of massed exposures. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that participants who received mindfulness inductions prior to exposure procedures demonstrated enhanced extinction learning as measured by expectancy ratings, but not when measured by distress, state …

A Temporal Model Of Mindful Interactions Around New Service Conception, Joe Rubleske

School of Information Studies - Dissertations

The organizational ability to innovate is widely acknowledged as crucial to sustained success. For libraries and other service providers, innovation entails the continuous development of new services that propose value to customers. This new service development process can be understood as comprising a "front end," in which new service ideas are conceived and developed, and a "back end," in which selected ideas are implemented. Our understanding of the former - that is, of new service conception in libraries - is particularly underdeveloped.

To build a conceptual foundation for research in this area I used qualitative data collection techniques and constant-comparison …

Impact Of Mbsr On Symptoms Of Anxiety, Stress, And On The Degree Of Mindfulness, Maureen Rivord

Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers

Anxiety and stress are felt by millions of people in the United States, and when experienced at high levels they can leave a debilitating impact, including both physical and mental health concerns. The purpose of this research project was to explore the impact of a mindfulness course, specifically Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, on voluntary participants’ reported symptoms of anxiety and stress levels. The 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course took place in a mid-sized Midwestern city. Using quantitative methods the 10 voluntary participants were given a pre- and post-test survey where the participants reported their anxiety, stress, and mindfulness levels before and …

Breathe In, Breathe Out: Utilizing Mindfulness In The Social Work Practicum, Allison Leigh Leonard

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Mindfulness is defined as the ability to be aware of your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and actions – in the present moment – without judging or criticizing yourself or your experience (McKay, Wood, & Brantley, 2007). It has been used in a variety of settings and in a variety of ways. Within the context of social work, mindfulness can be used to prevent burnout and increase awareness. This paper reports research on teaching mindfulness techniques with the purpose of training students to use mindfulness and improve their professional development. Specifically, the paper presents the following: review of current literature on …

Dispositional Mindfulness And Cardiovascular Functioning Under Stress: Predictions Of Social Evaluative Stress Reactivity And Recovery, Melissa P. Holt

Theses and Dissertations

Mindfulness – a receptive attentiveness to present experience – has been shown to promote more adaptive emotion regulation (Brown et al. 2008). Additionally, dispositional mindfulness has been shown to predict reduced cortisol response to social stressors (Brown et al, in press) and mindfulness training has been shown to promote more adaptive cardiac functioning at rest (Ditto et al., 2006; Tang et al., 2009; Telles et al., 2005; Zeidan et al., 2010) and in response to social stressors (Kemeny et al., 2012). To better understand the regulatory potential of a mindful disposition on cardiovascular functioning in healthy adult participants (N = …

Intrapsychic Predictors Of Professional Quality Of Life: Mindfulness, Empathy, And Emotional Separation, Jacky T. Thomas

Jacky T. Thomas

A growing literature documents the inherently stressful nature of working with persons who are suffering or traumatized, and the potential for the development of stress disorders among social workers and other helpers. Previous studies of compassion fatigue and burnout have provided important information about professional and workplace variables that might influence risk, but little attention has been given to studying intrapersonal skills/abilities that might reduce risk and/or increase resilience and work satisfaction among helping professionals. This exploratory study asked whether levels of mindfulness, empathy, and emotional separation would influence professional quality of life, including compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. …

Dispositional Mindfulness In People Diagnosed With Cancer: The Relationship To Depressive Symptoms And Well-Being, Karen Kersting

Theses and Dissertations

Coping with a cancer diagnosis is known to be a stressful experience that can be related to declines in personal well-being and increases in distress. Dispositional mindfulness is known to be related to depressive symptoms and well-being. The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between mindfulness and experiences of depressive symptoms and well-being in people recently diagnosed with cancer. Seventy-four participants who were diagnosed with cancer in the last 12 months completed an initial self-report survey, and 43 of those completed another survey 3 months later. Cross-sectional regression analysis showed that higher levels of mindfulness were …

Contemplative Education: How Contemplative Practices Can Support And Improve Education, Judith Johannes

Master's Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study is to explore how contemplative education can have a viable role in education. In the first part of this thesis I will share my own personal experience with contemplative practices and how they led to my personal growth and transformation.

The second part will give some brief insights about the benefits the ancient wisdom traditions Hinduism and Buddhism attributed to contemplative practices. They claim that those practices help to reach a state of expanded awareness and stillness of the mind. Contemplative practices such as mindfulness, which is a Buddhist meditation technique, were used to better …

The Role Of Mindfulness And Psychological Flexibility In Somatization, Depression, Anxiety, And General Psychological Distress Of A Non-Clinical College Sample, Akihiko Masuda, Erin C. Tully

Psychology Faculty Publications

The current study investigated whether mindfulness and psychological flexibility uniquely and separately accounted for variability in psychological distress (somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress). An ethnically diverse, non-clinical sample of college undergraduates (N = 494, 76% female) completed a web-based survey that included the self-report measures of interest. Consistent with prior research, psychological flexibility and mindfulness were positively associated with each other, and tested separately, both variables were negatively associated with somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress. Results also revealed that psychological flexibility and mindfulness accounted for unique variance in all four measures of distress. These findings …

The Role Of Mindfulness And Psychological Flexibility In Somatization, Depression, Anxiety, And General Psychological Distress Of A Non-Clinical College Sample., Akihiko Masuda, Erin Tully

Psychology Faculty Publications

The current study investigated whether mindfulness and psychological flexibility uniquely and separately accounted for variability in psychological distress (somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress). An ethnically diverse, non-clinical sample of college undergraduates (N = 494, 76% female) completed a web-based survey that included the self-report measures of interest. Consistent with prior research, psychological flexibility and mindfulness were positively associated with each other, and tested separately, both variables were negatively associated with somatization, depression, anxiety, and general psychological distress. Results also revealed that psychological flexibility and mindfulness accounted for unique variance in all four measures of distress. These findings …

Making It Real: Faculty Collaboration To Create Video Content, Claudia J. Dold, Gary Dudell

Academic Services Faculty and Staff Publications

Interest in integrative health care is a growing area of health practice, combining conventional medical treatments with safe and effective complementary and alternative medicine. These modalities relate to both improving physical and psychological well-being, and enhancing conventional talk therapy. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and library faculty have created a series of sixteen on-line video interviews that introduce practitioner-relevant experiences to students as supplemental course material. These videos are available through the department web-pages to students in other related disciplines as well, including Social Work, Counselor Education, Psychology, and the Colleges of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine. The video series …

Making It Real: Faculty Collaboration To Create Video Content, Claudia J. Dold, Gary Dudell

Claudia J. Dold

Interest in integrative health care is a growing area of health practice, combining conventional medical treatments with safe and effective complementary and alternative medicine. These modalities relate to both improving physical and psychological well-being, and enhancing conventional talk therapy. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching and library faculty have created a series of sixteen on-line video interviews that introduce practitioner-relevant experiences to students as supplemental course material. These videos are available through the department web-pages to students in other related disciplines as well, including Social Work, Counselor Education, Psychology, and the Colleges of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine. The video series …

Testing The Indirect Effect Of Trait Mindfulness On Adolescent Cigarette Smoking Through Negative Affect And Perceived Stress Mediators, C. Anderson Johnson, David S. Black, Joel Milam, Steve Sussman

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Mindfulness refers to an enhanced attention to and awareness of present moment experience. This study examined how trait mindfulness, as measured with six items from Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale, might influence adolescent cigarette smoking frequency through its impact on depressive affect, anger affect and perceived stress mediators. Self-reported data from Chinese adolescents (N = 5287, mean age = 16.2 years, SD = 0.7; 48.8% females) were collected within 24 schools. The product of coefficients test was used to determine significant mediation paths. Results from baseline cross-sectional data indicated that trait mindfulness had a significant indirect effect on past 30-day …

Being Present At Work And At Home: Can A Mindfulness-Based Intervention Reduce Work-Family Conflict?, Kaitlin M. Kiburz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past research has found that work-family conflict is related to trait mindfulness, a unique disposition due to its amenability to change through training. This longitudinal study incorporated a mindfulness-based intervention including a mindfulness-based workshop and behavioral self-monitoring (BSM) in an attempt to reduce work-family conflict in employees. Trait mindfulness was correlated with work-family conflict across time. The intervention increased participants' trait mindfulness and decreased WIF, but did not reduce FIW. There was minimal support for the moderating roles of negative affect and perceived stress on the impact of the intervention. Overall the results provide support for the efficacy of mindfulness-based …

Zen Communication - A Cross Cultural Approach To Mindfulness, Appropriate Response, And Flow In Dyadic Interactions, Gregory Husak

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This study examined the question of how the qualities that arise from the practice of traditionally East Asian disciplines such as Zen and related martial arts might be effectively applied to dyadic interactions. Long-form interviews of about 40 minutes each were conducted with academics who have studied these topics and with expert practitioners who have extensive direct experience. Most subjects had significant cross-cultural experience, having studied and/or practiced in both the U.S. and in Japan. Detailed analysis of transcripts of these recorded interviews indicated that, in particular, the seated Zen meditation practice known as zazen generates personally transformational qualities that …

A Psychoeducational Approach To Improving College Student Mental Health, Harlan Keith Higginbotham

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Mental health problems among the college population continue to increase in terms of frequency and severity. At the same time, the number of high school graduates who enroll in institutes of higher learning is also increasing making the college years an ideal opportunity to address existing and emerging mental and psychological challenges. Traditional counseling center services--while shown to be effective--are not appropriate for all students and are too resource intensive to meet the full need of the college population. Creative strategies are necessary to address the growing need for mental health services among college and university students that are resource …

Does Personal Distress Mediate The Effect Of Mindfulness On Professional Quality Of Life?, Jacky Thomas

Jacky T. Thomas

Personal distress is an aspect of the empathy construct which has been negatively associated with a range of psychological and behavioral problems. However, it is unclear whether mindfulness serves to buffer these negative relationships. This study examines direct effects and mediation effects of personal distress and mindfulness among three measures of professional quality of life: compassion fatigue, burnout, and compassion satisfaction. This model was tested using a sample of clinical social workers (n = 171). Results indicated that higher personal distress is significantly associated with higher compassion fatigue and burnout and lower compassion satisfaction, while mindfulness is significantly associated with …