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Gender Differences In Depressive Symptoms: The Interaction Of Cognitive Avoidance Coping And Specific Stressor Domains During Freshmen Adaptation To College, Daniel Dickson

Master's Theses

The first year of college can be a stressful experience that can lead to depressive symptoms in emerging adults. Due to the significant impairments that are associated with depressive symptoms across the lifespan, it is important to understand the elements of the first-year college experience that contribute to depressive affect. The goals of the current prospective study are to examine sex differences in the relationship between life stressors (i.e., social and achievement stressors) and cognitive avoidance coping in the development of depressive symptoms in first-year college students. The findings suggest that although cognitive avoidance is predictive of more depression, there …

Examining Gender And Socio-Economic Status On The Emotional Intelligence Of Early Adolescents, Alicea J. Davis

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine emotional intelligence and its impact on the maturational process of male and female early-adolescent youth. Demographic variables, such gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, and educational status were, valued against emotionality factors such as intrapersonal stress, interpersonal stress, adaptability, general mood, and overall emotional intelligence (EQ). The study utilized a non-experimental, correlational design examining archival data. The participants consisted of approximately, early adolescent fifth-grade students aged 10-13 years. The participants were administered the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (BarOn EQ-I:YV) and a demographic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the population sample. A Pearson …

Bibliotherapy's Effect On Anxiety In Children With Cancer , Nicole Schneider

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Two-Year College Faculty Work Experience: The Active Job, The Evolving Institution And The Changing Effort-Reward Bargain, Jacobs Wayne Hammond

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

While significant research describes the occupational experiences of four-year college and university faculty, two-year college faculty have received little attention from scholars. This study enters the existing void. Fourteen two-year college faculty members from a variety of institutions in Minnesota were interviewed utilizing a semi-structured depth interview technique. Questions were derived from sociological and interdisciplinary literature pertaining to the higher education faculty experience. Two-year college faculty were found to hold active jobs, work in evolving institutions and face a decreasing effort-reward bargain. Faculty were also found to be susceptible to experiencing role strain, stress derived from group-decision making processes and …

Calcium-Stimulated Adenylyl Cyclases Are Critical Modulators Of Fear Learning And Experience-Dependent Plasticity, Lindsay Wieczorek

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Stress can exacerbate psychiatric disease, often resulting in cognitive deficits. Consequently, a better understanding of what modulates stress-facilitated memory processing will help identify new targets for possible therapeutic intervention. Recent evidence suggests a role of the Ca2+-stimulated adenylyl cyclases: AC), AC1 and AC8, in modulating fear memory. Ca2+-stimulated AC activity couples neuronal activity and intracellular Ca2+ increases to the production of cAMP, and therefore, can very tightly regulate signal transduction after learning; yet, the details by which this occurs are not well understood. In this dissertation, I first investigated the temporal and regional importance of Ca2+-stimulated AC activity during different …

Mood Management And Video-Game Engagement: The Importance Of User-Experience And Gender In Assessing The Psychological Effects Of Video-Game Play, Crystine Serrone

Master's Theses

The overall purpose of this thesis was to investigate the psychological effects of video-game play. The two central goals were to (a) compare and contrast three classic media theories (Mood Management Theory, The Catharsis Hypothesis, and Excitation-Transfer Theory) as they apply to the effects of video-game play, and (b) investigate the importance of user-experience variables and gender in predicting psychological outcomes of play. In a two-group mixed experimental design, all participants underwent a frustration/stress mood-induction procedure before playing a violent or nonviolent video-game. Questionnaires were administered both pre- and post-play to assess affect, arousal, and dominance as well as the …

Effects Of Stress And Co-Rumination On Creativity And Performance, Subha Govindarajan

Master's Theses

Stress is shown to have a negative impact on individuals, organizations, and society at large. Though research in industrial/organizational (I/O) psychology has examined the relationship between stress and various organizational outcomes, the effects of stress on creativity and performance have seldom been investigated. Furthermore, despite the well-reported buffering effects of social support on the negative outcomes of stress, the potential effects of one type of social support, co-rumination, on organizational outcomes have not been examined. Therefore, using 100 undergraduate students, the effects of stress and co-rumination on creativity and performance were examined. Results did not show that stress and co-rumination …

The Effects Of Food Insecurity On Mental Wellbeing In Monteverde Costa Rica, Robert Eugene Cowherd

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion of ecotourism in the Monteverde zone of Costa Rica has increased the incidence in food insecurity in the area. Changes in food preferences and availability have led to a more homogenized diet that is increasingly delocalized and reliant on processed foods. Additionally, there has been a rapid economic shift away from agricultural and dairy farming to an economy more reliant on tourism. This NSF supported study builds upon data from a longitudinal investigation (#BNS 0753017) examining the nutritional effects of this rapid economic transition. Using a mixed methods approach, a culturally appropriate scale of stress was developed …

Wetland And Lake Destruction, Development And Mental/Emotional Distress Among Residents Of Tampa Bay, Florida, Gina Larsen

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research project is to understand how local environmental destruction in Tampa Bay, Florida, including changes in water resources and development activities, affects local Tampa Bay residents mentally and emotionally. The study also examines residents' personal connections with their landscape and documents the degree of stress that may be caused by experiencing environmental destruction through the use of interviews, freelists, and two psychometric stress scales (Hopkins Symptom Checklist-10 and the Environmental Distress Scale). The topic of emotional distress and environmental change has rarely been studied in social science research, particularly in the United States and with regards …

Parental Efficacy, Experience Of Stressful Life Events, And Child Externalizing Behavior As Predictors Of Filipino Mothers' And Fathers' Parental Hostility And Aggression., Aileen S. Garcia, Liane Peña Alampay

Psychology Department Faculty Publications

This study assessed relations of parental efficacy, experience of stressful life events, and child externalizing behavior to Filipino mothers and fathers’ parental hostility and aggression. Orally-administered surveys were conducted with 117 mothers and 98 fathers for the first year of data collection, and again a year later with 107 mothers and 83 fathers. Path analyses showed that mothers’ report of child externalizing behavior predicted subsequent parental hostility and aggression. For fathers, child externalizing behavior and experience of stressful life events predicted parental hostility and aggression. Additionally, fathers’ parental efficacy was found to moderate the relationship between experience of stressful life …

The Relationship Between Married Partners' Individual And Relationship Distress: An Actor-Partner Analysis Of Low-Income, Racially And Ethnically Diverse Couples In Relationship Education, Matthew D. Munyon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Couples experiencing relationship distress often require professional help, such as counseling and couple and relationship education (CRE). Research recently discovered that among couples in counseling, a circular relationship exists between individual and relationship distress-stress begets stress. Until this study, a similar examination had not been conducted among couples selecting CRE. This study examined the relationship between individual and relationship distress among married couples that had children, were from predominantly low-income and racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, and selected CRE. A correlational research design was employed and framed in the social interdependence theory. The actor-partner interdependence model was conducted within a …

Stressors Experienced By Emergency Department Registered Nurses At The Bedside: A Phenomenological Study, Stephen D. Heglund

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Emergency Department (ED) as a workplace for the Registered Nurse (RN) is a stressful environment. Reasons are thought to include interactions with other members of the interdisciplinary team as well as the situations associated with the environment of the ED such as trauma, death, sadness, joy and the general unpredictability of each moment. Studies have documented general health care workplace stress and its influence on staff, but a very limited number of studies have concentrated on the ED. No widely published studies have identified stressors from the perspective of the ED RN. This dissertation is an interpretive phenomenological study …

The Effect Of Loving Kindness Meditation And Student Teachers Stress And Empathy, Imre Csaszar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Teachers face increasing demands in the twenty-first century as they engage with students, administrators, coworkers, staff, and parents. High demands and stressors may generate feelings of emotional exhaustion in educators. If left ignored or untreated the emotional exhaustion may eventually lead to burnout and impairment. This prospectus highlights a study designed to explore a preventative option to mitigate the experience of stress felt by student teachers through a structured, guided mindfulness training practice: loving kindness meditation.

Stresses Of Mothers Caring For An Older Adolescent Diagnosed With Autism: A Phenomenological Exploration, Linda Mason

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

A review of the literature provides ample research about caregiver stress in relationship to healthcare needs, aging, and mental illness. However, there is limited research about caregiver stress in regard to families that care for a child with disability. Further limited in scope is research about mothers who care for an older adolescent with diagnosed autism. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experience of six mothers caring for an older adolescent diagnosed with autism. The question about what causes stress resulted in findings: isolation, coping with their child's challenging behaviors, and frustration with the establishment. The question about what …

Biobehavioral Correlates In Fibromyalgia, Ann Trivigno Mcnallen

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by non-restorative sleep, and fatigue. Over 75% of individuals with FMS complain of poor sleep quality and fatigue. These have been ranked by patients with FMS as having great impact on quality of life. A literature review suggested that poor sleep quality may be a predictor of increased stress and FMS symptom onset in those affected. However, no experimental studies have demonstrated a causal relationship between poor sleep and stress in people with FMS. Methods: Using a single stage cross-sectional design, the primary study aim was to compare 25 women with …

Protective-Restoring To Maintain Self Integrity : A Grounded Theory Of The Human Experience Of Dog Relinquishment, Mary Ellen Elizabeth Edwards

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Dog relinquishment or ‘getting rid of the dog’ is common practice in Australia and other countries where dogs are kept as pets. Each year thousands of dogs are relinquished for a variety of reasons. While losing a pet through death can be as devastating for some people as the death of a loved human, little is known about the human impact of losing a dog through relinquishment. This qualitative study sought to explore the experience of dog relinquishment from the perspectives of a Western Australian sample of 21 relinquishers, 10 adults who had experienced dog relinquishment in childhood and 15 …

Positive Religious/Spiritual Coping Among African American Men Living With Hiv In Jails And/Or Prisons, E. James Baesler, Valerian J. Derlega, James Lolley

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Prescient Human Fetuses Thrive, Curt A. Sandman, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Laura M. Glynn

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Fetal detection of adversity is a conserved trait that allows many species to adapt their early developmental trajectories to ensure survival. According to the fetal-programming model, exposure to stressful or hostile conditions in utero is associated with compromised development and a lifelong risk of adverse health outcomes. In a longitudinal study, we examined the consequences of prenatal and postnatal exposure to adversity for infant development. We found increased motor and mental development during the 1st year of life among infants whose mothers experienced congruent levels of depressive symptoms during and after pregnancy, even when the levels of symptoms were relatively …

Symposium Introduction: Humanism Goes To Law School, Marjorie A. Silver

Touro Law Review

By now, the knowledge that law students experience more than their fair share of distress is old news. The studies about law student (and lawyer) unhappiness have been widely discussed in both academic literature and trade publications. Less well known, however, are the increasing number of programs that law schools, and individuals within those schools, have implemented to counter that distress,and to help students develop a positive professional identity,both as students and as the lawyers they are about to become.

A Fuzzy Inference Model For Predicting Irregular Human Behaviour During Stressful Missions, Sina Khanmohammadi, Cihan Hayreddin Dagli, Farnaz Zamani Esfahlani

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper a hybrid fuzzy inference and transfer function modeling is used to predict the irregular human behavior during hard and stressful tasks such as dangerous military missions. a set of affecting factors such as missioner's experience, fatigue, sunshine intensity, hungriness, thirstiness, psychological characteristics, affright, etc. may be taken to account. in this regard a dynamic system model is used to predict the convolution of the timed effects of different factors on irregular behavior of personnel during the mission. This approach of predicting irregular behavior or erroneous decision making of staff have serious usages in aerospace, military, social and …

A Non-Invasive Assay For Monitoring Stress Responses: A Comparison Between Wild And Captive-Reared Rainbowfish (Melanoteania Duboulayi), Amina Zuberi, Sinan Ali, Culum Brown

Aquaculture Collection

The stress response of wild and captive reared rainbowfish (Melanoteania duboulayi) following chasing by a simulated predator was examined. Cortisol release rate was monitored using a flow through system by measuring water borne hormone levels. Tests using known cortisol concentrations revealed that the technique yielded 95% of the cortisol present in the water. Cortisol release rates increased several fold in both populations after being chased but peaked at different time periods. Wild fish showed a typical stress response with release rate rising to (2.29±0.22 ng g⁻¹ h⁻¹) 2 h after exposure followed by rapid recovery. The captive-reared …

Changes In Spirituality Partly Explain Health-Related Quality Of Life Outcomes After Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction., Jeffrey M Greeson, Daniel M Webber, Moria J Smoski, Jeffrey G Brantley, Andrew G Ekblad, Edward C Suarez, Ruth Quillian Wolever

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is a secular behavioral medicine program that has roots in meditative spiritual practices. Thus, spirituality may partly explain Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction outcomes. Participants (N = 279; M (SD) age = 45(12); 75% women) completed an online survey before and after an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis that, following Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, the relationship between enhanced mindfulness and improved health-related quality of life is mediated by increased daily spiritual experiences. Changes in both spirituality and mindfulness were significantly related to improvement in mental health. Although the initial mediation hypothesis …

Maternal Separation Affects Dopamine Transporter Function In The Spontaneously Hypertensive Rat: An In Vivo Electrochemical Study, Jacqueline S. Womersley, Jennifer H. Hsieh, Lauriston A. Kellaway, Greg A. Gerhardt, Vivienne A. Russell

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) is a well-characterised model of this disorder and has been shown to exhibit dopamine dysregulation, one of the hypothesised causes of ADHD. Since stress experienced in the early stages of life can have long-lasting effects on behaviour, it was considered that early life stress may alter development of the dopaminergic system and thereby contribute to the behavioural characteristics of SHR. It was hypothesized that maternal separation would alter dopamine regulation by the transporter (DAT) in ways that distinguish SHR …

The Relationship Between Salivary Cortisol Levels And Stressful Behaviors Upon The Introduction Of A New Exhibit Mate In Captive Black And Gold Howler Monkeys (Alouatta Caraya) At The Hattiesburg Zoo, Cassie Mechelle Chandler

Master's Theses

Salivary cortisol levels were taken on a male and a female howler monkey and compared with behavioral observations during their introduction to one another into an exhibit at the Hattiesburg Zoo in order to determine the link between behavior and stress. This study sought to answer the following research questions: What behavioral responses occur when two howler monkeys are introduced into the same exhibit at a zoo? How stressed are the animals at different stages of the introduction? And, what is the correlation between behaviors and hormones, if any?

The study spanned four phases including a baseline phase, the initial …

The Relationship Of Acculturation And Acculturative Stress In Latina/O Youths’ Psychosocial Functioning, Marsha Tafoya

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study was conducted to better understand how acculturation and acculturative stress are related to self-esteem, depression, substance use, and substance use problems in 206 Latina/o youth. Acculturation is the social and psychological process of change that occurs when an individual or group comes in contact with a different culture. The acculturation process can be positive, improving one’s life chances in the new culture, or it could be negative due to the challenging nature of change and adaptation to new cultural and social expectations. This difficulty creates a type of stress, called acculturative stress that has been found to be …

Paradoxical Reversal Learning Enhancement By Stress Or Prefrontal Cortical Damage: Rescue With Bdnf., Carolyn Graybeal, Michael Feyder, Emily Schulman, Lisa M Saksida, Timothy J Bussey, Jonathan L Brigman, Andrew Holmes

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Stress affects various forms of cognition. We found that moderate stress enhanced late reversal learning in a mouse touchscreen-based choice task. Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) lesions mimicked the effect of stress, whereas orbitofrontal and dorsolateral striatal lesions impaired reversal. Stress facilitation of reversal was prevented by BDNF infusion into the vmPFC. These findings suggest a mechanism by which stress-induced vmPFC dysfunction disinhibits learning by alternate (for example, striatal) systems.

Some Things Are Better Left Not Unsaid: An Exploratory Study Of The Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stressor, Justin P. Boren, Alice E. Veksler

Communication

In organizations, individuals seek the support of others to manage their day-to-day stress. Researchers within a social support paradigm have found that individuals who have communicative outlets to discuss their stressors are healthier psychologically and physiologically. To the extent that those outlets are restricted, individuals may suffer the deleterious effects of stress. Therefore, this manuscript conceptualizes and explores one such stressor, the Communicatively-Restricted Organizational Stressor (CROS). Based on a sample of 405 organizational members, we identified the existence and explicated the nature of this stressor. Results were generally inconclusive. Discussion focused on significant findings and the need for better operationalization …

The Impact Of An Enacted Social Support Training Intervention On Worklife Interaction And Stress In A Sample Of Working Adults, Justin P. Boren, Jess K. Alberts

Communication

The present investigation explores utilizes an enacted social support intervention among a group of working adults. Reductions in psychological and physiological stress were hypothesized to occur following the experimental intervention. Participants (N = 46) were all full time staff members at a large university and were randomly assigned to treatment or wait-list control groups. Treatment group members attended two 90 minute enacted social support meetings over the course of four weeks. Psychological (perceived stress and worklife conflict) and physiological (salivary cortisol) data were collected at both pretest and posttest periods. Results did not support the research hypotheses; however, a research …

Long Term Effects Of Chronic Variable Stress Administered During Different Developmental Stages In Mice, Henry Boeh

Dissertations (1934 -)

A number of studies have suggested that the occurrence of past trauma can increase an individual's chance of developing PTSD from a new traumatic experience later in life. Trauma that occurs during childhood appears to have a particularly strong effect on this risk increase. Furthermore, conditioned fear responses have been shown to incubate over extended periods of time in animal models. To further investigate the role these phenomena play in the development of PTSD, this study exposed juvenile and adult mice to 7 days of chronic variable stress (CVS). One month later, a Pavlovian delay fear conditioning procedure was used …

Stress And Status : How Socioeconomic Status Affects Stress In Young Adult Women, Emma Katharine Yovanoff

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Numerous studies highlight the connection between women with low socioeconomic status (SES) and stress; however, there is a gap in the literature in regards to women with high SES status or what these two groups may have in common. The present study used a mixed methods approach to examine how types and levels of stress differ between women ages 18-24 years who have lower and higher socioeconomic status. Participants were 106 women with either low or high SES between the ages of 18-24 years. Data were collected using an anonymous online survey to determine each participant's SES and to identify …