Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Identification Of Structural Brain Alterations In Adolescents With Depressive Symptomatology, J. Bashford‑Largo, R. James R. Blair, Karina S. Blair, Matthew Dobbertin, Ahria Dominguez, Melissa Hatch, Sahil Bajaj

Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior: Faculty and Staff Publications

Introduction: Depressive symptoms can emerge as early as childhood and may lead to adverse situations in adulthood. Studies have examined structural brain alternations in individuals with depressive symptoms, but findings remain inconclusive. Furthermore, previous studies have focused on adults or used a categorical approach to assess depression. The current study looks to identify grey matter volumes (GMV) that predict depressive symptomatology across a clinically concerning sample of adolescents.

Methods: Structural MRI data were collected from 338 clinically concerning adolescents (mean age = 15.30 SD=2.07; mean IQ = 101.01 SD=12.43; 132 F). Depression symptoms were indexed via the Mood …

Advertising Sports Nutrition Practices To Adolescent Athletes: A Poster Series, Emma Hansen

Honors Theses

Sports nutrition is an important aspect of an athlete’s training and improvement, yet it is often overlooked when it comes to younger competitors. Four posters were created with the intent of providing adolescent athletes, their parents, and their coaches with information about important topics in sports nutrition including a general overview of nutrition goals, hydration strategies, recovery nutrition, and nutritional considerations for vegetarian and vegan youth athletes. The posters were designed to appeal to adolescents from the ages of 13 to 18, and each poster covers its designated topic in detail appropriate for middle and high school-aged athletes. The accompanying …

The Relationships Between The Home Food Environment And Weight Status Among Children And Adolescents, Ages 6-17 Years, Martha J. Nepper

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The home food environment is an important setting in regard to a child’s dietary intake and the development of obesity, since 65% to 72% of daily calories are consumed in the home. Research is beginning to explore how the home food environment may influence children’s weight status. It is suggested that homes with healthy weight children are more likely to have healthier food options available and limit access to unhealthy foods. Prior research on the influence of the home food environment on children and adolescent’s weight status is not clear, as some researchers have found that the home food environment …

A Pilot Mixed Methods Evaluation Study Of The Effectiveness Of An After-School Cooking Club Curriculum For Middle School Students, Elisha M. Hall

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Introduction: Obesity has exponentially increased each decade, with approximately one third of the adult American population obese and another one third overweight. More startling is that these trends are rising in children as well. With economic, health, social, mental, and emotional consequences, childhood obesity has quickly risen as a significant issue to tackle. Increases in fast food consumption have been linked with overweight status, and home cooked meals are slowly becoming part of the past. The adolescent time period, in which children are slowly gaining more autonomy and conducting their activities independent from their parents, is an optimal time …

Exploring Student Perceptions To Explain The Relationship Between Physical Activity And Academic Achievement In Adolescents: A Mixed Methods Study, Megan J. Hylok

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

A nationwide survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control in 2007 reported 65% of high school students did not meet the recommendation that youth participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity most days of the week (CDC, 2008). While research has focused its attention primarily on bodily health, growing evidence supports the benefits of physical activity on brain health (Ratey & Hagerman, 2008). Physical activity is important and many adolescents are not meeting the recommendation, therefore, it is important to explore the adolescent perceptions to understand which factors influence physical activity participation. The significance of this study …

Neuropsychological Effects Of The Traumatic Stress Response In Sexually Abused Adolescents Throughout Treatment, Kathryn R. Wilson

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Child maltreatment is a pervasive problem in our society that has long-term detrimental consequences to the development of the affected child such as future brain growth and functioning. The alteration of the biochemical stress response system in the brain that changes an individual’s ability to respond efficiently and efficaciously to future stressors is conceptualized as the traumatic stress response. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of the traumatic stress response on sexually abused adolescents’ through a two-tiered study of neuropsychological functioning throughout treatment. It was determined that there are measurable differences in neuropsychological processing in sexually …

Family Factors That Differentiate Sexually Abused And Nonabused Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients, Dawn H.S. Reinemann, Kevin D. Stark, Susan M. Swearer Napolitano

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Sexual abuse research has traditionally focused on adult, retrospective accounts of potential correlates of abuse and their impact on functioning. However, only a few studies have examined sexually abused adolescents’ perceptions of their families, and results have proven inconclusive. This study examined whether family factors would differentiate sexually abused and nonabused adolescent psychiatric inpatients. Fifty-seven psychiatric inpatients, ages 11 to 17, who either had experienced sexual abuse or had no history of sexual victimization completed a diagnostic interview and were assessed on a variety of family indices. Results indicated that after controlling for level of depression, sexually abused adolescents could …

“Other Teens Drink, But Not My Kid”: Does Parental Awareness Of Adolescent Alcohol Use Protect Adolescents From Risky Consequences?, Karen Bogenschneider, Ming-Yeh Wu, Marcela Raffaelli, Jenner C. Tsay

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study included 199 White mother-adolescent dyads and 144 White father-adolescent dyads. All adolescents reported regular alcohol use, yet less than one third of parents were aware of their adolescents’ drinking. Parental awareness of adolescent alcohol use served to protect adolescents by moderating the relation of parents’ responsiveness to episodes of drinking and driving. Aware parents were more likely than unaware parents to believe their adolescents’ close friends drank alcohol. Aware mothers worried more about their adolescents’ risk behaviors and discussed them more frequently with their adolescents. Aware fathers held values less disapproving of adolescent alcohol use and were less …