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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Feasibility Of A Parent-Focused, Stress Management Intervention To Decrease Adolescent Bmi, Reduce Stress, And Increase Well-Being Among African American Families, Colby J. Kipp
Theses and Dissertations
African American adolescents in the United States experience a higher prevalence of obesity as compared to their White counterparts. This health inequity presents a public health concern as consequences of weight-related chronic diseases often persist into adulthood and are increasingly problematic. As chronic stress has been found to be higher among African American youth compared to White adolescents, it presents as a potential barrier to participation for African American families in health promotion interventions. Additionally, it may be beneficial to target stress in health promotion programs as a modifiable factor in conjunction with health behaviors that may improve outcomes related …
A Rudimentary Framework Of The Emergence Of Naturally-Occurring Mentorships, Aaron S. Baker Cervantes
A Rudimentary Framework Of The Emergence Of Naturally-Occurring Mentorships, Aaron S. Baker Cervantes
Dissertations
Cross-age relationships between youth and adults that develop organically outside the construct of youth programs are examples of natural mentoring relationships. In the United States, research has demonstrated the positive impact of these mentorships. Scholars have begun applying concepts learned from natural mentoring to formal mentoring schema; however, much work is yet to be done in examining how these relationships emerge and the factors that impact their development. Designed in partnership with a private secondary school in rural México, this study aimed to unpack these questions using a grounded theory approach. Current students, alumni, and teachers participated in the study …
Bullying: How Feelings Of Fatalism May Influence Youth Choices To Offend, Tammy Shartzer
Bullying: How Feelings Of Fatalism May Influence Youth Choices To Offend, Tammy Shartzer
Theses
School age bullying continues to be a source of intense research as it is commonly linked to increased levels of delinquency in adolescents. In an effort to understand the process through which bullying victimization is linked to increased levels of delinquency, researchers continue to explore environmental and psychological components. This study used both OLS regression and negative binomial regression to examine the relationship between traditional and cyberbullying victimization and delinquency to assesses if fatalism mediates or moderates this relationship. An individual with fatalism often feels they are stuck within a revolving cycle of bad happenings and are powerless to change …
Alcohol Use Subgroups Among Rural Middle School Students: The Impact Of Community Violence Exposure, Courtney B. Dunn
Alcohol Use Subgroups Among Rural Middle School Students: The Impact Of Community Violence Exposure, Courtney B. Dunn
Theses and Dissertations
A substantial portion of early adolescents initiate alcohol use. This represents a significant public health concern due to its association with a variety of adverse consequences. Although person-centered analytic approaches such as latent class analysis have been used to describe heterogeneity in adolescents’ alcohol use, most prior studies have focused on high school or older samples. This may obscure patterns of alcohol use that emerge during early adolescence. The current study identified and described subgroups of adolescents based on their alcohol use in a racially diverse sample of rural middle school students. Because research and theory indicate that exposure to …
How Did We Learn About Sex? —— Sex Education And Sexual Health In Chinese Youth, Yujuan Liu
How Did We Learn About Sex? —— Sex Education And Sexual Health In Chinese Youth, Yujuan Liu
Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)
Attitudes toward sexuality among Chinese youth have become more liberal in recent generations, but sex education remains controversial and limited. Due to the lack of awareness of sexual risks, many Chinese youth engage in unprotected sexual activities resulting in unintended pregnancy, abortions, and STIs. Therefore, understanding successful pathways and unique challenges are crucial to develop adequate sex education for youth’s sexual health in China. The current study used semi-structured in-depth interviews and investigated 28 Chinese youths’ experiences of sex education and sexual health. The results mapped out youth’s sex education experiences by age and sources and demonstrated the impacts of …
Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim
Student Wellbeing And Open Studio Process In The School Curriculum, Maria Kim
Expressive Therapies Dissertations
This study aimed to explore whether Open Studio Process (OSP) increased wellbeing of middle and high school students when facilitated by teachers as a part of the regular art curriculum. It was hypothesized that OSP might increase the sense of wellbeing among middle and high school students as well as facilitating teachers. The research was conducted as a mixed methods study in South Korea where students need preventative interventions for their wellbeing. The researcher trained eight teachers to facilitate OSP and five of them implemented it with their classes for seven sessions. Quantitative data (K-YSR; pre- and posttest) were collected …
Targeting Youth’S Motivation To Change Substance Use Behaviors: Feasibility And Preliminary Outcomes From An Open Trial Of The Free Talk Program In A Short-Term Juvenile Detention Facility, Cassidy L. Tennity
West Chester University Master’s Theses
Juvenile offenders who use substances are at an increased risk for multitude of negative outcomes, including substance use problems in adulthood and recidivism. Interventions that are effective in community settings or long-term juvenile justice settings may not be well suited for implementation in short-term juvenile detention facilities. Free Talk (FT; D’Amico, Chan Osilla, & Hunter, 2010) is a brief motivational intervention that targets motivation to change substance use. The current study aimed to determine whether youth participating in FT within a short-term juvenile detention center reported expected changes in motivation to change substance use. Additionally, we aimed to assess whether …
Examining Differences In Physical Activity By Socio-Demographics, Employment, And Social Support Among U.S. Adolescents, Ashleigh Marie Johnson
Examining Differences In Physical Activity By Socio-Demographics, Employment, And Social Support Among U.S. Adolescents, Ashleigh Marie Johnson
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
The overall decline in physical activity levels during adolescence supports the examination of intrapersonal-, interpersonal-, and behavior-level factors that may influence physical activity behavior among this population. The three papers within this dissertation aimed to examine associations of socio-demographics and socio-environmental factors with physical activity among U.S. adolescents. Papers 1 and 3 used data from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study. Paper 1 examined differences in adolescent physical activity by gender and race/ethnicity, and examined modification by grade and socioeconomic status (SES). Paper 3 examined the association of parent- and adolescent-reported parental social support with adolescent …
Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Peer Engagement And Knowledge (Peak): A Community-Based Group Intervention For Youth In Hawai‘I, Jennifer T. T. Ho
Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Peer Engagement And Knowledge (Peak): A Community-Based Group Intervention For Youth In Hawai‘I, Jennifer T. T. Ho
Doctoral Dissertations
This study is a program evaluation with a mixed methods design that evaluated the effectiveness of Peer Engagement and Knowledge (PEAK), a six-week community-based group intervention that incorporates mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) to address multiple health behaviors for multiracial youth in Hilo, Hawai‘i. A total of 51 youth, ages 12-23 years old, participated in this study which included pre-/posttest analyses of health risk factors such as substance use and depression and health promoting factors such as resilience, self-esteem, and mindfulness. Responses from two subsets of participants, who engaged in a focus group (n = 11) and composed gratitude letters ( …
Development And Usability Testing Of Quit4health, A Smoking Cessation Smartphone App For Young Adults, Katarzyna Czerniak
Development And Usability Testing Of Quit4health, A Smoking Cessation Smartphone App For Young Adults, Katarzyna Czerniak
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Tobacco use is the leading cause of death in the United States. As of 2016, 23.5% of American 18-25 year olds reported having used cigarettes in the last month compared to 20.2% of adults and only 3.4% of adolescents. Due to the efficacy and widespread general use of mobile technology today, mobile-phone health, or mHealth apps, have become increasingly popular methods of delivering smoking cessation programs. However, there is a lack of evidence in regards to the quality and the effectiveness of using mHealth to deliver smoking cessation interventions to young adults. This study aims to fill this gap to …
Drama Therapy And Transgender Adolescents, Ryan Lisman
Drama Therapy And Transgender Adolescents, Ryan Lisman
Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses
Transgender adolescents in the United States are currently a vulnerable population that often regularly face discrimination and are at a high risk for hate crimes (Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, 2016). Developing and implementing therapeutic interventions and models for working with transgender adolescents is essential at this time. In American society, there has recently been a cultural shift towards a greater sense of acceptance for the LGBTQ community (Benson, 2013), but within that, the transgender community has been consistently left behind in many aspects of progress that LGB (Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual) people have benefited from (Benson, 2013). There …
“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams
“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams
Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology
Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …
Testing Bidirectional Contextual Effects Of Adolescent Risk Factors On Young Adulthood Outcomes: A Life Course Perspective To Gangs, Andrea E. Lamont
Testing Bidirectional Contextual Effects Of Adolescent Risk Factors On Young Adulthood Outcomes: A Life Course Perspective To Gangs, Andrea E. Lamont
Theses and Dissertations
Leading theories in developmental science emphasize the role of the individual as an active agent in shaping her or his environment. Yet, most empirical work has focused on unidirectional models, ultimately treating the individual as a passive recipient of environmental risk. Part of this gap between theory and analysis is methodological in nature – i.e., classical statistical methods typically do not allow for the modeling of bidirectional influences or complex longitudinal relations. Recent advancements in longitudinal methodologies, however, expand our ability to answer more nuanced developmental questions. In this dissertation, I demonstrate how advanced longitudinal methods could be used to …