Psychology Commons^™

Applying Dialectical Behavior Therapy To Latinx Youth Experiencing Deportation Stress: A Critical Literature Review And Culturally Congruent Application, Desiree Curcio

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Deportation policies from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have harmful effects on the mental health of immigrant families in the US. These effects can be experienced at multiple points such as living in fear of deportation, undergoing ICE raids, becoming detained, or being deported. The children that witness these experiences of deportation within their families are impacted substantially. Some of the psychological effects of having a parent deported or detained can include internalizing and externalizing problems, attention difficulties, emotional and behavioral changes, interpersonal conflict, and feeling like a burden. While the impacts of deportation on youth are highlighted in the …

Music Interventions In The Treatment Of Adolescent Trauma: A Systematic Review, Diana C. Hereld

Theses and Dissertations

As multidisciplinary research continues to uncover the promise of non-invasive interventions such as music in mental health treatment, clinicians, researchers, and music scholars alike have increasingly come together through the field of music psychology. As such, it is unsurprising that some of the most significant findings have come from cross-disciplinary studies in music and medicine. The juxtaposition of music and mental health creates a unique and substantial need for integration of literature across multiple disparate settings, including clinical psychology, education, neuroscience, music therapy, behavioral medicine, and psychiatry. Through methodological application of a textual narrative evidence synthesis, this review examines multiple …

Decreasing Physical Inactivity Among Adolescents, Anthony W. Ware

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAdolescents in the United States have become complacent about being involved in an adequate amount of physical activity and consuming a healthy diet. This has led to adolescents having health issues such as overweight status and obesity. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made recommendations for adolescents to maintain an adequate level of physical activity and to consume a healthy diet. In this study I hypothesized that students who were surveyed in the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey who practiced both physical activity and healthy diet recommendations together would have a lower …

The Differential Influence Of Maltreatment Subtype And Age Of Exposure On Empathy, Kate L. Senich

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The capacity for empathy may be shaped by interpersonal interactions throughout development. Research shows that detrimental interactions, such as maltreatment, lead to aberrant levels of empathy. However, different subtypes of abuse and neglect as well as age of exposure complicate the relationship between maltreatment and empathy. The current study aims to elucidate the contributions of maltreatment subtypes and age of exposure in predicting state and trait empathy. Participants (N=94, M age=19.12 years, 45.7% male) self-reported their age of exposure to eight subscales of maltreatment from caregivers. Next, participants self-reported their trait empathy and completed a vignette measure aimed to assess …

The Effects Of Social Media On Anxiety, Reward Sensitivity, And Risk-Taking On Emerging Adults, Victoria Medrano

Master's Theses

The increasing popularity of social media has led to 3.80 billion social media users worldwide (Kemp, 2020). The conception of social media has brought positive and negative effects to light. A tool originally intended to provide connection and build relationships has now also been described by many as a tool for bullying, peer pressure, mental health issues, and unrealistic views of others (Valkenburg & Peter, 2009). Research has shown a significant relationship between levels of social media usage and the likelihood for young adults to have increased reward sensitivity, risky behaviors, and anxiety levels (Vannucci et al., 2017; Vannucci et …

Long-Term Effects Of Adolescent Fluoxetine Exposure On Hippocampal Gene Expression In Male C57bl/6 Mice, Anapaula Themann

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mood-related disorders, including depression and anxiety, are prevalent among children and adolescents. This poses a public health challenge, given their adverse impact on these young populations. Treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine (FLX) is the first line of pharmacological intervention in pediatric patients suffering from affect-related illnesses. Although the use of this antidepressant has been deemed efficacious in the juvenile population, the enduring neurobiological consequences of adolescent FLX exposure are not well understood. For this reason, we explored for persistent molecular adaptations, in the adult hippocampus, as a function of adolescent FLX pretreatment. To do this, we administered …

Identifying Risk Factors For Ptsd Symptom Clusters In Maltreated, Multiracial Youth Using Nonparametric Modeling, Mallory Constantine

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Multiracial youth are one of the most at-risk racial groups for child maltreatment. Multiracial individuals are also more likely to report mental health concerns than other racial or ethnic groups. This study aimed to identify demographic and psychological risk factors that are unique to multiracial, maltreated youth with respect to PTSD symptoms (i.e., re-experiencing, hyperarousal, avoidance) through classification and regression tree (CART) analyses. Participants included 99 multiracial, maltreated youth directly following their placement in an emergency group shelter due to substantiated maltreatment. The first hypothesis was that female gender, English first language, questions related to guilt and self-blame, and depressive …

To Engage Or Disengage: The Impact Of Coping Strategies, Sex, And Stress History On Cortisol Reactivity Among Urban Adolescents, Madeline Curzon

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Stress affects people daily and can prove maladaptive to mental health if chronic or acute. Effective coping responses may mitigate the negative effects of intense or prolonged stress through physiological processes such as HPA axis activity. Previous research has found one specific coping dimension, engagement/disengagement, to be predictive of cortisol reactivity in response to lab-induced stressors. Sex and stress history also contribute to the relationship between coping and cortisol reactivity. However, these processes are not as well understood in adolescent populations and have not been explored across different types of stressors. The present study explored the relationship between coping and …

Resting State Functional Connectivity In The Default Mode Network: Relationships Between Cannabis Use, Gender, And Cognition In Adolescents And Young Adults, Megan Ritchay

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit substance in the United States, and nearly 1 in 4 young adults are current cannabis users. The psychoactive component of cannabis, THC, is active at cannabinoid receptors, type 1, or CB1 receptors. CB1 receptors play a critical role in neural development, and chronic cannabis use causes desensitization and downregulation of these receptors. Chronic cannabis use is associated with changes in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in the default mode network (DMN) in adolescents and young adults, although results are somewhat inconsistent across studies, likely due to differing methodologies. Additionally, cannabis effects appear …

Differences In Compulsive-Like Ethanol Consumption In Adolescent-Trained And Adult-Trained Rats Exposed To Acute Isolation Stressors, Maria J. Lopez

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The Pavlovian Conditioned Approach (PCA) procedure is an experimental procedure used with animals to induce compulsive-like behaviors directed towards an object conditioned stimulus (CS) paired with a sucrose pellet unconditioned stimulus (US) presented in a nearby food tray (sign tracking). When the object CS is an alcohol-containing bottle, the rats demonstrate compulsive-like interactions with the bottle object (e.g., approach, contact, and licking) that also results in alcohol consumption (drinking) in most rats. Compulsive alcohol drinking in a sign-tracking procedure is a result of the combined effects of schedule-induced compulsive-like behavior and the intake of alcohol (Tomie & Sharma, 2013).

The …

The Relationship Between Neighbourhood-Level And Family-Level Factors And Sleep Problems Among Children And Youth, Katarina Mckenzie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is little research on the effects of neighbourhood factors on child sleep outcomes. No study to date has investigated the interactive effects of neighbourhood and family socio-economic characteristics (SECs) on child sleep outcomes. This study aimed to fill this gap. Secondary data analyses were completed on two samples (children and youth) from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study, a cross-sectional, province-wide sample of 10,802 children aged 4 to 17. Multi-level modeling was used to assess the relationship between child- (e.g., age), family- (e.g., negative parenting) and neighbourhood-level factors and their relationship to sleep outcome variables: problems falling asleep, problems …

Reducing Stigma Associated With Growing Up Poor: How To Create A More Equitable Future For Working Class Adolescents, Jessica Goodpaster

University Honors Theses

I examine how stigma associated with socioeconomic status (SES), or social class, has the potential to negatively impact individuals during adolescence. Specifically, I focus on the impact of class stigma, and the institutional barriers faced by adolescents as they prepare for adulthood. These barriers and the stress felt due to both stigmatization, and environmental stimuli specifically pertaining to low-income neighborhoods/environments, can hinder or alter the development of the four major domains of development: physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Stigmatization has resulted in physically and socially isolating low-income communities from middle- or high-income communities, hindering social mobility for L-SES adolescents. …

An Investigation Of Developmental Precursors And Consequences Of Self-Sacrificing Behaviors In Young Adult Romantic Relationships, Emme Lis

Masters Theses, 2020-current

It has been well established that the early attachment relationship a child forms with their parent or caregiver is foundational in influencing subsequent relationships throughout life. Adolescence itself is also a critical developmental period for future relationship development. The current study therefore was interested in examining ways in which attachment orientations youth carry into adolescence combine with parental influences to shape teens’ future relational behaviors and attitudes in young adulthood. Specifically, the parental influences of promotion of autonomy and positive relatedness, as well as parental valuing of prosocial behaviors and self-directed behavior during adolescence were investigated in interaction with early …

Effects Of Adolescent Motivation And Personality On Adherence And Success In A Voluntary Residential Bootcamp Program, Lydia Sigurdson

Master's Theses

The Youth ChalleNGe Program is a voluntary program for adolescents who have dropped out of high school and is intended to address various needs of at-risk youth. As a result, individuals are motivated to enroll for an array of reasons. Though prior research on the Youth ChalleNGe Program has sought to identify individual factors that determine program outcomes, no study has considered motivation for enrollment as a predictor of program success. Further, personality traits related to goal setting and self-regulation may impact the relationship between motivation and program outcome. Archival data was gathered from 710 participants in the Youth ChalleNGe …

How An Adolescent Athlete's Status And Deviation From Masculine Norms Is Perceived By Adult Men: The Impact Of Observers' Masculine Ideology, Brandon C. Martin

Undergraduate Theses

Masculinity has been at the forefront of discussion surrounding social change in American popular culture. After consideration of the historical context of masculinity in the 20th century, development and sport were discussed. To evaluate the effects of adult men’s masculinity ideology on their perceptions of gender nonconforming behavior (pink nail polish), an adolescent male athlete target was utilized. A 2 x 2 between-subjects design used sport (football and swimming), and status (a freshman and a senior) in vignettes which described an adolescent male athlete. Participants’ unique attributes, such as degree of conformity to masculine norms, gender role conflict, and policing …

The Effect Of Depression On Adolescent Deviant Behavior And The Mediating Effect Of Autonomy, Theresa Lee

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to synthesize the relations among the adolescent need for autonomy in decision making process, depression, and tendencies for deviant or risk-taking behaviors as adolescents. Background variables such as socio-economic status, sex, race, previous academic achievement, parent warmth and support, resistance to peer pressure were controlled for. Using the NICHD database set, multiple regression analyses revealed that adolescent autonomy was not correlated with adolescent depression, and earlier depression at sixth grade was not a significant mediator of the effect of earlier deviant behaviors at sixth grade on later adolescent deviant behaviors. More importantly, however, the …

Adults’ Reflections On Their Lived Experiences With Adolescent Social Anxiety Disorder, Shelley Marie Skelton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health disorders for children and youths, and social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the third most common anxiety disorder. SAD can negatively impact school performance, mental health, and healthy social development. In comparison to other forms of anxiety, current treatments for SAD have not been as efficacious. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore other factors of adolescent SAD, such as the role of resilience. The two research questions addressed the lived experiences of adolescents with SAD and how they developed resilience in relation to their SAD. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of …

Coparenting Among Families Of Treatment-Seeking Adolescents: Associations With Coping Behaviors And Psychological Adjustment, Andrew Joseph Flannery

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In recent decades, the family literature has demonstrated that the influences of coparenting spread through the entire family system and also uniquely affect child and adolescent psychosocial outcomes. For example, extant evidence shows that coparenting influences the connection between marital conflict and adolescent psychosocial outcomes. However, the period of adolescence is underscored by novel stressors, as teenagers experience biological, psychological, social, and cognitive transformations. Moreover, the median age of onset for mood, anxiety, substance use, and impulse-control disorders is before 25 years of age and most frequently during adolescence. Additionally, the manner in which adolescents cope with stressors may buffer …

Fitting In: A Study On Adolescent Identity-Uncertainty And Group Entitativity, Isabela Ixchel Cruz-Vespa

Senior Projects Spring 2021

Uncertainty-Identity Theory hypothesizes that the more uncertain people are about themselves, the more likely they are to identify with groups as a way to define themselves and guide their behavior. Research has shown that this identification can happen to an extreme level when the group is highly entitative, or provides clear expectations for how group members should behave, think and feel, thereby resolving their uncertainty. Adolescence is a development period defined by self-uncertainty, and therefore also heightened vulnerability to highly entitative, extremist groups. This experiment tests the prediction that adolescents who are experiencing high self-uncertainty will be more likely to …

Co-Constructing Stigma: Treating Trauma In Adolescence, Isabelle Sanderson

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Public stigma and self-stigma are major factors that impede the seeking of mental health treatment as well as the development of an effective therapeutic alliance. This paper explores the co-creation of stigma dynamics from an intersubjective systems theory lens suggesting these dynamics may play a role for adolescent clients who have experienced significant trauma. Specifically, the potential overlooking and/or misdiagnosis of trauma-related experiences and symptoms often occurring with adolescents diagnosed with ADHD may be contributing to a co-constructed dynamic between the therapist and client to avoid an exploration of trauma that would be experienced as more stigmatizing, more threatening, and …

Developmental Predictors Of Adolescent Mental Health Stigma And A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial Of "Ending The Silence" In New York City, Joseph S. Deluca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explored predictors of mental health stigma among adolescents and the effectiveness of a school-based mental health stigma reduction and health promotion program, “Ending the Silence” (ETS), developed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Youth mental health service use is impacted by many factors, but concern about stigma and low mental health knowledge have been consistently identified as leading barriers to help-seeking. Beyond education and contact program components, existing research on how to design a successful adolescent stigma reduction intervention has been inconclusive. A diverse sample of 206 high school students in New York City participated in the …

Rejection Sensitivity And Social Support As Predictors Of Peer Victimization Among Youth With Psychiatric Illness, Katherine C. Hyde

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined whether rejection sensitivity and perceptions of social support predicted concurrent peer victimization in a sample of adolescents with psychiatric illness. Participants included 43 adolescents, aged 12-18 with diverse psychiatric diagnoses, who were recruited from a summer residential treatment program. Participants completed measures of peer victimization, perceptions of social support, and rejection sensitivity. Participants also completed the global victimization item in the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, which allowed for comparison of rates of peer victimization across studies (Solberg & Olweus, 2003). Results replicate and extend previous research that indicates adolescents with psychiatric illness experience high rates …

An Integrated Analysis Of The Mechanisms By Which Parents Facilitate The Development Of Emotion Regulation In Young Adolescents, Andrew Fox

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Effective emotion regulation strategies are associated with adaptive outcomes in youth. While previous research has established parental socialization of emotion regulation as an important predictor of adaptive outcomes, the mechanisms by which parents contribute to young adolescents’ emotion regulation outcomes is poorly understood. The current study examined pathways between parenting style, parental socialization of emotion regulation practices, and adolescent negative affectivity to emotion regulation outcomes in adolescents cross-sectionally and prospectively over the course of a year. Participants were 150 young adolescents ages to 10 to 14 (M_age = 13.03, SD_age = .90; 51.33% female) and their parent/legal …

Exploring Influences On Autistic Identity Development In Adolescence And Early Adulthood, Ariana Riccio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Personal identities grow and change across development, co-constructed and renegotiated within our environment, through our interactions, and by our relationships with the people and places around us. This dissertation aimed to explore the development of autistic identity in adolescence as influenced by parents, introduces a novel method for measuring emotions and autistic identity where participants rate their emotional responses to autistic experiences, and explores the influence that colleges and universities may have on autistic identity in young autistic adults.

In a study of 19 autistic adolescents and their parents, if and how parents disclosed an autism diagnosis to their child …

Dance/Movement Therapy And Its Implications In A Studio-Based Dance Program: A Community Engagement Project, Akeila Sharp

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Adolescent females often struggle with emotional regulation, developing relationships, and poor body image. Research indicates that taking dance classes or participating in dance movement therapy sessions can be an effective technique to improve in these areas. However, there is limited research on the use of both in one setting. Therefore, this capstone explored the impacts of dance on adolescent females and the implications of dance/movement therapy (DMT) in a studio-based dance program. The objective of this project was to examine how restructuring a dance class using DMT interventions could improve problem areas such as low self-esteem, lack of communication skills, …

Engagement And The Therapeutic Process In Art Therapy With Adolescent Boys In Residential Care: A Literature Review, Lauren Gallagher

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Current treatments for youth in residential treatment incorporate aspects of behavioral based and psych-educational based approaches with point and level systems, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychiatric services, and psychopharmacological treatment. However, research is lacking on improving the agency, motivation, and motivating factors of the therapeutic process for children in residential settings, specifically adolescent boys. Art therapy with a relational and person-centered focus may be an influential alternative treatment to motivate and engage this population. Within this body of research, the areas of art therapy, trauma-informed practice, relational-cultural theory, person-centered approaches, and the C.A.R.E. model are explored as treatment methodologies with adolescent …

Exploring Connections Between Social Anxiety And Social Media Use In College Students, Alexandra Deman

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

When young adults enter college their identity and self-esteem are tested in a novel environment. Interacting, forming new relationships, having some sense of independence for the first time, and often living in a new area can take a toll on someone who has not sufficiently developed a stable identity. This, in-turn, may create a negative outlook on one’s self and the individual’s capabilities to participate in social interaction, or ultimately a desire to avoid them altogether. If such a negative view further intensifies and remains present, it may develop into social anxiety disorder. Social media can either alleviate or escalate …

Dietary Intake And Executive Function In Youth And Emerging Adulthood: Environmental Correlates And Developmental Considerations, Amy Michelle Egbert

Dissertations

Obesity is a major public health concern impacting one in five young people in the U.S., and research suggests that consumption of high calorie, low nutrient foods may play a role in weight gain. Executive function (EF) has emerged as a factor that may play a role in dietary intake across youth development. Although biopsychosocial models of obesity emphasize the importance of identifying individual and environmental influences that may be associated with poor dietary intake, empirical research in this area is lacking. Therefore, the current set of studies seeks to 1) systematically review the literature on the association between EF …

Early Adolescent Social Isolation, Hope, And Well-Being During A Pandemic, Alicen Hauck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social isolation is often divided into two subcategories of objective and subjective. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in objective social isolation in the form of social distancing and fewer social events. Research delineating the relationship between social isolation and adolescent well-being utilize measures of subjective social isolation. Whereas, measures of objective social isolation are more commonly used with geriatric populations. Therefore, there is a lack of information specific to the impact of objective social isolation on adolescent well-being, particularly during a pandemic. The effects of social isolation due to COVID-19 will not be short lived. Deciphering the …

An Examination Of Quantity And Quality Of Maternal Consulting Predicting Adolescents' Socio-Emotional Outcomes, Natalie Low

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This observational investigation had two aims. The first aim examined the independent associations of the quantity and quality of maternal consulting and early adolescents’ socio-emotional outcomes. The second aim assessed the moderation effect of the quality of maternal consulting on the relationship between the quantity of maternal consulting and early adolescents’ outcomes. Seventy early adolescents (Mage=12.39 years old) and their mothers participated in the study. The sample was 51.4% girls and 48.6% boys. Mothers and their early adolescents were video recorded discussing typical hypothetical peer-related situations. Conversations were coded for the amount of consulting and four aspects of quality: feasibility, …