Psychology Commons^™

Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Resilience, And Religious Orientation And Practices Among University Student Earthquake Survivors In Haiti, Harvey J. Burnett Jr, Herbert Helm

Faculty Publications

This study examined the prevalence of PTSD symptoms; the relationship between PTSD and resilience, religious orientation and religious practices; and how gender is associated with these variables among a volunteer sample of 140 students attending a Christian university in Haiti approximately four months after the January 2010 earthquake. Using the PTSD Checklist-Civilian (PCL-C), the Resilience Scale (RS), and the Religious Orientation Scale (ROS) found no significant relationship between PTSD, resilience, religious orientation and religious practices. Results did indicate that 34% of the sample had PCL-C scores indicative of PTSD; female participants had higher PTSD symptoms than males; higher levels of …

Predictors Of Resilience Among Hispanic Adults: Stepwise Analyses From Late Adolescence To Adulthood, Katherine Marie Aguirre

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Background: The focus of this study was factors that affect resilience as a health outcome among Hispanic adults. Some Hispanics and other members of disadvantaged and vulnerable populations have developed remarkable ways of coping with adversity, such as positive reframing (Farley, Galves, Dickinson, & Perez, 2005). Purpose: This research aimed to examine various ways of coping in response to difficult life situations for Hispanic adults and identify those that are associated with resilient outcomes. Methods: The present sub-study focused on difficult life problem narratives from the semi-structured interviews conducted in Dr. Felipe González Castro's Corazón projects (Castro, Kellison, Boyd & …

Empowering Communities From The Ground Up: Perspectives On A Lay Mental Health Project In Post-Earthquake Haiti, Gilberte Bastien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Resilience Education, Jane Gillham, R. M. Abenavoli, S. M. Brunwasser, M. Linkins, K. J. Reivich, M. E. P. Seligman

Psychology Faculty Works

As a primary learning and social environment for most children, schools have tremendous potential to, and responsibility for, promoting resilience and well-being in children. This chapter reviews the rationale for focusing on resilience in education and illustrates some of the ways that schools can promote resilience in young people. Although resilience education can also encompass academic or educational resilience, the authors focus primarily on the power of schools to promote students’ social and emotional well-being and provide examples from their team’s work on school-based resilience and positive psychology interventions. As they hope to show, resilience education holds great promise in …

The Role Of Hope And Resilience In Pediatric Obesity Intervention Outcomes, Brigitte Dawn Beale

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Childhood obesity is a major health concern in the United States (McClanahan, Huff, & Omar, 2009). In recent years, the prevalence of pediatric obesity has stabilized. However, a substantial decrease in obesity rates has not yet occurred, nor has the gap of health disparity been closed amongst ethnic groups experiencing obesity. African-American and Hispanic youth continue to experience obesity at substantially higher rates than other ethnic groups (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine correlations between Positive Psychology constructs and pediatric obesity intervention outcomes. A single-participant research design was utilized to compare baseline outcomes …

Spiritual Well-Being And Its Relationship To Resilience In Young People: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Lindsay Smith, Ruth Webber, Erica Defrain

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Questions have arisen recently about the role of spiritual well-being in strengthening resilience of youth. To explore this association, this case study focused on the relationships and connectedness of young people who attend one religious organization as a means of enhancing their spiritual well-being. In line with the purposes of an instrumental case study, different sources of data (quantitative and qualitative) were collected on the phenomenon of interest—spiritual well-being. A theoretical purposive sample of 65 people participated in the study. A mixed methods research approach guided this case study, which incorporated both single- and multicase study techniques. Through an abductive …

Chronic Stress Elevates Telomerase Activity In Rats, Annaliese K. Beery, Jue Lin, Joshua S. Biddle, Darlene D. Francis, Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Elissa S. Epel

Neuroscience: Faculty Publications

The enzyme telomerase lengthens telomeres—protective structures containing repetitive DNA sequences at chromosome ends. Telomere shortening is associated with diseases of ageing in mammals. Chronic stress has been related to shorter immune-cell telomeres, but telomerase activity under stress may be low, permitting telomere loss, or high, partially attenuating it. We developed an experimental model to examine the impacts of extended unpredictable stress on telomerase activity in male rats. Telomerase activity was 54 per cent higher in stressed rats than in controls, and associated with stress-related physiological and behavioural outcomes. This significant increase suggests a potential mechanism for resilience to stress-related replicative …

Building Group Resilience: A Three-Day Curriculum, Andrew Willis Garcés

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Social change organizations are often exposed to stress and disruptive, potentially traumatic events. Despite this, few such groups invest time into actively cultivating resilience practices. Likewise, most existing resilience promotion initiatives are designed for use with individuals, not organizations, and lack the experience-based pedagogical approach necessary to interest many social change activists. This curriculum intervention provides a needed bridge between social change activism and resilience promotion theory. Designed as a three-day workshop, it can be used with entire organizations to support both self-awareness of their existing strengths and the development of new protective measures to boost collective resilience.

Natural Mentoring Relationships As A Buffer Against The Negative Effects Of Stressors On Academic Outcomes Of Latino Adolescents, Claudio Rivera

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional study examined 192 Latino adolescents in their ninth grade of high school. A resiliency theory framework was used for this study. The purpose of the study was to determine if natural mentoring relationships served a compensatory and protective role against stressors on the academic outcomes of Latino adolescents in their first year of high school. Using multiple hierarchical regression analyses, it was determined that stressors and mentoring relationship quality had main effects and interaction effects on the academic outcomes of Latino adolescents. Thus, support for the compensatory and protective model of resilience was provided in some aspects of …

The Role Of The Resiliency Process In Skilled Immigrants' Job Search, Kelly Kisinger

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For many skilled immigrants settling in Canada, the obtainment of employment is a difficult and lengthy process. The current study seeks to examine how skilled immigrants deal with the adversity of the job search by applying a process model of resiliency (King & Rothstein, 2010) to the job search of skilled immigrants. The study examined the interplay between individuals’ psychological characteristics, knowledge, and environment and their self-regulatory processes, and how those processes influenced the job search individuals performed and subsequent job search outcomes. Using a cross sectional design, 94 immigrants throughout Canada completed an online survey. The findings showed individuals’ …

Negotiator Resilience.Docx, Brianna B. Caza, Mara Olekalns

Mara Olekalns

Program Evaluation Of A Suicide Prevention Walk: Finding Postvention Opportunities For Promoting Resilience In Survivors Of Suicide Loss, Lisa A. Cooper Ellison

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Each year more than 34,000 people die by suicide leaving between 6 to10 survivors of suicide loss behind for every person who dies. The risk of suicide for these survivors is between 2 to 10 times the general population. It is imperative that postvention efforts target vulnerable individuals grieving suicide losses. Recent studies have examined the efficacy of postvention supports for these survivors, such as counseling and survivors of suicide support groups; however, little is known about the vast majority of survivors who do not seek services. Each year, large numbers of survivors of suicide loss attend community suicide prevention …

Dispositional Resilience And Person-Environment Fit As Predictors Of College Student Retention, Melissa Waitsman

All Dissertations

As more students drop out of college and the cost of leaving school without a degree rises, it becomes increasingly critical to help match students to a school that will educate them and facilitate graduation. While the college student retention literature has formulated a number of ideas and theories about how this may be accomplished, the current study uses an idea from the psychological literature, person-environment fit, in order to understand the role of an individual's fit with their college environment on student success. The current study examines individual differences in resilience as well as those in preferences for the …

Individual Resilience, Social Support, And Health Risk Behaviors In Adolescents And Young Adults: Study On Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Samples, Chuong Hong Nguyen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Resilience is considered the ability that a person gains positive achievements despite exposure to significantly adverse life conditions. However, a majority of previous research has focused on human developmental tasks or academic achievements. Evidence of resilience on health risk behaviors has not been comprehensively established yet. The purposes of this dissertation were to extend the existing literature about the stability of resilience through time, to examine how the resilience scale concurrently and prospectively predict resilience statuses, and to explore effects of Social support over a long period of lifetime. The dissertation used a secondary database from the public-use version of …

Coping Styles Of Maltreated Children As Related To Risk And Temperament, Tiffani N. Orne

Senior Honors Theses

A large number of children are classified as maltreated, and these children respond to maltreatment in different ways. Cumulative sociodemographic risk factors and temperament both affect the socioemotional outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the association between risk factors and behavioral outcomes in children who have been neglected or abused is influenced by temperamental characteristics. Social workers in Virginia completed questionnaires about five children and adolescents who are part of their current case load. Questionnaires included demographic questions, a Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), and an Emotionality Activity Sociability (EAS) temperament …

Hearing Women’S Voices: Understanding Women's Stories Of Violence From The Perspective Of Strength, Kayla M. Janes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study was to understand women's experiences of violence from the perspective of strength. Women who had experienced woman abuse participated, identifying common themes that emerged relating to their strengths and resilience that helped them survive their traumatic experiences, as well as their posttraumatic growth. Interviews were conducted with women who were involved in an adult education program for women who had experienced woman abuse. All of the women in this study were suffering distress and mental health concerns related to their experiences of violence; however all of them showed resilience and posttraumatic growth in areas of …

Overcoming Adversity: Resilience Of Low-Income, Nonresidential, Black Fathers, Erica Elizabeth Coates

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective. This study examined the factors associated with higher levels of paternal involvement among low-income, nonresidential, Black fathers. Method. Participants were 110 fathers of children up to the age of 10. Participants completed psychometrically sound measures of social support, spirituality, family of origin relationships, coparenting relationship quality, psychological well-being, motivation, conviction history, resilience, and father involvement. Results. A simultaneous multiple regression indicated that better psychological well-being and coparenting relationship quality and lower conviction rates since the birth of the child were significant predictors of higher levels of paternal involvement. Mediational analysis revealed that coparenting relationship quality partially mediated the relationship …

Cognitive Reappraisal Ability As A Protective Factor: Resilience To Stress Across Time And Context, Allison S. Troy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emotion regulation is crucially involved in individuals' psychological health. For example, the frequent use of cognitive reappraisal, or changing the way one thinks about an emotional event, is positively associated with psychological health. Recent cross-sectional findings have shown that the ability to use cognitive reappraisal (cognitive reappraisal ability; CRA) is associated with lower depression in the context of high stress. However, two important questions about CRA remain unexamined: 1) Does CRA predict long-term adjustment to stress? 2) Do the protective effects of CRA depend upon the type of stress encountered? To examine these questions, a community sample of men and …

Patterns Of Risk And Resilience : Cluster Analysis And The Relation To Later Outcomes, Stephanie M. Ernestus

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study identifies specific patterns of risk and protective factors using a person-centered approach (cluster analysis) in low-income ethnic-minority early adolescents, and then used variable centered approaches to examine how these patterns are related to developmental outcomes 6 years later. The present study used data from Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three Cities Study, and comprised of 939 African American and Latino adolescents ages 10-14 at the initial assessment. Three distinct clusters of risk and protective variables were identified; one cluster was high on protective factors, one high on risk factors, and another mixed. These risk, protective, and mixed clusters …

Attachment And Resilience In Military Families Throughout The Deployment Cycle, Jason A. Kacmarski

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

The number of military deployments in the United States of America has been on the rise since the United States attacked Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Ongoing combat operations over the last few years have meant a growing number of military families have experienced the deployment process. This research paper utilizes the concepts of attachment and resilience to explore the deployment process within the framework of the emotional cycle of deployment. Integrating current knowledge within the field of mental health related to attachment theory, resilience, and the deployment process, I explore the potential risks military …

Does Being Rural Matter?: The Roles Of Rurality, Social Support, And Social Self-Efficacy In First-Year College Student Adjustment, Allison L. Bitz Phd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One out of every three first-year college students will not return for a second year of college (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). Due to a variety of factors, minority students are at an even higher risk of dropping out of college. Rural youth, comprising approximately 22% of the nation’s total youth, form a significant minority population; yet the rural student experience in college has not yet been widely considered in research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore college adjustment and its predictors among first-year students, with an emphasis on the role of rurality in college adjustment. Social self-efficacy, …

Food For Thought: A Strengths-Based Approach To Examining The Biomedical And Psychological Health Of Latino Migrant And Seasonal Farm Workers In Georgia, Joanna R. Weinberg

Psychology Dissertations

Inherent in their living and working conditions, Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFWs) are exposed to a multitude of environmental and psychosocial stressors that make them susceptible to adverse health outcomes. Utilizing a resilience framework, the current study examined both the physical and psychological health functioning of MSFWs in Georgia, a state heavily reliant on farm worker labor where relatively few research studies with MSFWs have been conducted to date. Based on a sample of 120 Latino, male, MSFWs in South Georgia, results indicated that approximately 1 out of 3 farm workers were at risk for iron-deficiency anemia. Similar to …

Resilience Through Attending To The Power Of The Mind, Jennifer Dawn Behm

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Abstract The science of psychological genomics, otherwise known as epigenetics, demonstrates how thoughts and emotions affect our physiology and even our genes. Genetic expression is a determining factor in many physical diseases and mental conditions. There is recent evidence that suggests that effective resilience-focused counseling may enable genes to express themselves in salubrious ways, frequently averting disease. Early counseling interventions can eliminate a future need for more costly invasive medical procedures. People can be mentally and physically healed when they are ministered to in their totality. The science of epigenetics has profound ramifications for all in the healing professions including …

Life Experiences That Contributed To The Independence And Success In The Lives Of Foster Care Alumni, Dawn Elizabeth Montgomery

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the factors which helped these foster care alumni to persevere and to succeed. The intent was to provide a framework for equipping youth in foster care more effectively by building on their strengths and the resources available in foster care. The study’s method incorporated the interviewing of ten ethnically diverse individuals who had experienced the foster care system. Based on their insights and the themes which emerged, the WARRIORS Model was created. This acronym represents the key themes derived from the interviews: Wounded, Advocacy, Reality of Belonging, Resources, Inspired to Succeed, …

A Study Of Resilience In West Australian Small Business Owners, Philip Roggio

Theses : Honours

Research suggests a relationship exists between the resilience of the Small Business Owner (SBO) and the resilience of their business, however the nature of this relationship is unclear. The current study investigated whether the internal resources of the SBO were significant in predicting the resilience of their business. A sample of 108 SBOs in the Perth metropolitan area completed an online questionnaire which measured aspects of individual and business resilience. A series of multiple regression analyses were used to test three hypotheses. The results from all three analyses consistently revealed that the internal resources of the SBO were the most …

Children's Grief Resources: A Website For Children Grieving The Loss Of A Parent And Their Caregivers, Jami L. Pfirrman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The death of a parent can represent one of the most devastating life experiences for children. It is an experience that disrupts a developmental path. It is also a crisis that families and communities must address in order to help a grieving child cope and develop resilience. Currently, there are few mental health resources available for parentally bereaved children. Literature on bereavement following the death of a parent suggests that children may experience long-term negative psychological consequences from the loss. However, the literature also notes that with appropriate support, access to resources, and opportunities to express their grief and build …

A New Look At Survivorship: Female Cancer Survivors' Experience Of Resilience In The Face Of Adversity, Christine Marie Valenti

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the lived experience of adult female cancer survivors to discover common protective resilience factors that enabled them to cope with their cancer experience and to identify potential barriers to resilience. Nine female cancer survivors, age 18 years and older whose cancer was in remission or currently active, who were members of a cancer support group and who volunteered to participate in this study were interviewed. They were asked open-ended questions regarding the biological, social, psychological and spiritual factors that helped them to cope with, heal and thrive with their cancer experience. The participants identified resilience protective …

Resilience Factors Affecting The Readjustment Of National Guard Soldiers Returning From Deployment, D. Patricia Tackett

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Following the September 11, 2001 attack on the United States, there has been increased utilization of the Reserve Components (RC) by the military to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Service members in the National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) represent approximately 40% of the forces involved in these conflicts. Current research indicates that NG/R personnel and their families may be at greater risk to deployment stressors than their Active Component counterparts. Estimates for the development of mental health problems including PTSD among returning RC personnel, range as high as 42%. The focus of this study was to advance the …

Differential Effects Of Mindful Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, And Loving-Kindness Meditation On Decentering And Negative Reactions To Repetitive Thoughts., Greg Feldman, Jeffrey M. Greeson, Joanna Senville

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

Decentering has been proposed as a potential mechanism of mindfulness-based interventions but has received limited empirical examination to date in experimental studies comparing mindfulness meditation to active comparison conditions. In the present study, we compared the immediate effects of mindful breathing (MB) to two alternative stress-management techniques: progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) to test whether decentering is unique to mindfulness meditation or common across approaches. Novice meditators (190 female undergraduates) were randomly assigned to complete one of three 15-min stress-management exercises (MB, PMR, or LKM) presented by audio recording. Immediately after the exercise, participants completed measures of …

The Uneven Distribution Of Social Suffering: Documenting The Social Health Consequences Of Neo-Liberal Social Policy On Marginalized Youth, Michelle Fine, Brett G. Stoudt, Maddy Fox, Maybelline Santos

Publications and Research

In 2009, British epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett published "The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Strong", in which they argue that severely unequal societies produce high rates of ‘social pain”: adverse outcomes including school drop out, teen pregnancy, mental health problems, lack of social trust, high mortality rates, violence and crime, low social participation. Their volume challenges the belief that the extent of poverty in a community predicts negative outcomes. They assert instead that the size of the inequality gap defines the material and psychological contours of the chasm between the wealthiest and the most impoverished, enabling …