Education Commons^™

The Protective Influence Of Self-Compassion Against Internalized Racism Among African Americans, Alexandra Emery

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

Racist experiences and internalized racism may lead to poorer mental health outcomes for African Americans born and socialized in the United States (Graham, West, Martinez & Roemer, 2016; Mouzon & McLean, 2017). Self-compassion has been shown to protect against poor mental health outcomes, but limited research exists with respect to African Americans specifically (Lockard, Hayes, Neff and Locke, 2014). The present study explored whether self-compassion could serve as a protective factor between the relations of internalized racism and racist experiences, and the negative mental health outcomes of anxiety, depression, and stress among (N = 230) African American adults. To …

Weight Status, Bullying Involvement, And Internalizing Symptomology In Adolescents: Examining A Diathesis-Stress Model, Ana Damme

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

Bullying is a pervasive societal issue that is consistently linked to negative outcomes that are emotionally, socially, behaviorally, and medically related. Most youth will encounter this negative life event in their childhood. The purpose of this dissertation was to use a diathesis-stress model perspective to assess the relations between the negative life event of bullying involvement, youths’ mental health, and youth weight status. Youth who have an unhealthy weight status are more likely to be involved in bullying than those with a healthy weight status (Browne, 2012; Puhl). Additionally, bullying and having an unhealthy weight status are related internalizing symptomology …

Examining The Coping Resources Of Polyvictimized Youth And Young Adults, Zachary Robert Myers

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

Bullying represents a significant concern for many youth and young adults in the United States and abroad. However, the growth of technology has allowed for new platforms in which perpetrators can engage in bullying behaviors, such as text and video messaging, social media applications, and online gaming. In addition, research has suggested that the majority of cyberbullied individuals experience co-occurring in-person victimization as well. These trends are concerning, given that findings within both the traditional and cyberbullying literatures place victimized youth at-risk for a host of social and emotional concerns. However, research has yet to fully explore the unique experiences …

Depression Among Chinese Lbc: Understanding Depression In Context Of A Family-Oriented Culture, Lanyan Ding

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

Background: Left-Behind Children (LBC) refers to children who are under 18 and must live separately from at least one of their parents for longer than six months because of parents’ labor migration (Zhou & Duan, 2006). The long-term family separation might greatly impair the family environment and increase the risk of developing depression among LBC. This research examined the relationships among family structure (left-behind status), caregiving, and child depression using archival data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Methods: In Study 1, multilevel regression analyses investigated how contextual factors (family structure …

Peer Victimization, Social Support, And Internalizing Symptoms: The Role Of Organized Out-Of-School Activity Participation, Scott R. Frohn

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

Peer victimization is associated with and predictive of internalizing symptoms, such as loneliness and depression. Social support has been found to moderate the relationship between victimization and internalizing symptoms, with increased levels of support related to lower levels of internalizing symptoms for victims of peer abuse. The current study examined if organized out-of-school activity participation was associated with lower levels of internalizing symptoms for adolescents in general and for those victimized by peers. Possible gender differences were also explored. Results indicated that participating in a broader range of activities (breadth of participation) was generally associated with higher levels of internalizing …

A Longitudinal Investigation Of Peer Victimization, Self-Esteem, Depression, And Anxiety Among Adolescents: A Test Of Cognitive Diathesis-Stress Theory, Cixin Wang

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

This study examined the relationship between two types of peer victimization(overt and relational victimization), depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and selfesteem over three time points. Participants were 1171 fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth graders (623 females) recruited from four elementary schools, three middle schools, and two high schools in the Midwest. Students’ self-report on peer victimization, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem was collected. Structural Equation Modeling was used to examine the relationship among those variables. The results showed that self-esteem mediated the relationship between two types of peer victimization and depressive symptoms. Self-esteem was found to mediate the relationship …