Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Development Of A Measure Assessing Adolescent Aggression: The Aggressive Behavior Risk Assessment- Adolescent- Parent Report (Abra-A-Pr), Katherine Fallon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although parent-report scales for general behavioral difficulties and aggression (e.g., verbal and physical aggression) exist, there are currently no measures assessing sexual behaviors in this context. Commonly, parent-report measures provide a few items relevant to behavioral aggression, and items encompassing sexually aggressive behaviors are frequently vague and non-specific in the actions being committed by the adolescent. The primary purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive and multifaceted parent-report measure for aggressive behavior in adolescents. Three separate studies were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the measure. Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used to investigate …

Emergency Care For Youth Who Experience Suicidality And Identify As Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning (Lgbtq+): An Interpretive Phenomenology, Theresa Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children; youth who identify as LGBTQ+ are at an exponentially higher risk of suicide. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of young adults who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency care for suicidality when they were adolescents.

Methods: Heideggerian hermeneutics phenomenology is the research method used in this study. Youth, ages 18-25 years, who identify as LGBTQ+ and sought emergency treatment for suicidality when they were adolescents (13-17 years) were recruited to participate;fifteen youth enrolled. Individuals ranged in age from 20 to 25 years. Participants described …

Factors Influencing American Indian Adolescents' Abstention And Desistance From Drug Usage., Ruben Olegovich Pavlov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Informed by Hirschi’s (1969) social bond theory and by Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) general theory of crime (GTC), the proposed study intends to identify the factors more likely to differentiate drug-use desisters (i.e., adolescents who reported life-time usage, but did not report recent drug use) from those who never used drugs and from those who reported continuous use of drugs. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of survey data collected between 2009 and 2013 and obtained from a sample of American Indian (AI) adolescents, attending schools located on or near American Indian reservations. Although recent statistical information indicates …

Concurrent Reporting Of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among Perspectives Of Adolescents And Caregivers., Katie J. Berghuis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The consequences of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) events in youth have predominantly been studied through retrospective studies that assess adults’ first 18 years of life or caregiver report of ACEs in youth. Reliance on only caregiver report to discern ACEs is a limitation amongst prior studies as research has found that caregivers tend to underestimate ACEs among their children, and there is even a greater discrepancy of reporting between caregivers and youth 12 years and older. Therefore, this study investigated concurrent reporting of self-report ACE scores in adolescents – defined in this study as 12 to 20 years old – …

Challenges Of Middle School To High School Transition: A Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Students Transitioning From Eighth Grade To Ninth Grade, Simisola K. Aromolaran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transitioning from middle to high school comes with a lot of hiccups and challenges for adolescents as they are having to deal with this huge change during a season of life that is challenging. During adolescence, teenagers experience various mental, psychological, and physiological changes. This dynamic developmental period comes with intense changes, and having a better understanding can help teachers, school staff, parents, and peers work through these challenges with teenagers. This study explored the experiences of students when they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9, examined the available support systems during this transition, and how students utilized the …

Affective, Physiological, And Cognitive Response To Imagery- And Verbally-Based Rumination And Distraction In Adolescence, Hannah Lawrence

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

To date, rumination and interventions for rumination have largely been verbal in focus. Rumination has been conceptualized as dwelling on negative affect in the form of verbal thought, and interventions aim to interrupt cycles of rumination using verbal strategies. Yet, emerging evidence suggests that many individuals dwell on negative affect in the form of imagery (e.g., Lawrence, Haigh, Siegle, & Schwartz-Mette, 2018) and that imagery-based interventions may be even more effective (e.g., Arntz, 2012). This is not surprising as imagery is more affectively arousing (Holmes & Mathews, 2010), physiologically stimulating (Vrana, Cuthbert, & Lang, 1986), and realistic/vivid (Mathews, Ridgeway, & …

Fatalism As A Cultural Influence On Correlates Of Anxiety And Worry In Latino/A Adolescents., Judy Mier-Chairez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evidence that Latino/as in the United States experience lower rates of anxiety disorders as compared to the non-Latino/a White population has not yet led to the identification of the sources of these differences. Higher rates of anxiety disorders among more acculturated Latino/a individuals compared to those lower in acculturation suggest there are influential cultural variables relevant to anxiety, specifically that there is a loss of a protective Latino/a cultural factor in the acculturation process. Fatalism, an often-cited Latino/a cultural characteristic, emerges as an intriguing candidate for exploration in relation to anxiety due to the shared elements of future orientation and …

Exploring The Relationships Of Social Media Usage And Symptoms Of Anxiety And Depression In Adolescents, Morgan Culpepper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social media is a popular form of communication and entertainment among youth. Inconsistencies are present in the literature on the potential effects it can have on mental health. Depression and anxiety disorders are common among all age groups in the US, and this study aimed to determine the relationship social media has on symptoms of anxiety and depression. The Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS) and the GAD-7 were used to measure symptoms of anxiety, as well as the CES-D scale to evaluate depressive symptoms in adolescents. The number of social networking sites and number of hours spent on social …

Integrated Psychological Services In Pediatric Primary Care: A Program Evaluation, Kristen Laprade Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many children and youth experience emotional and/or behavioral health difficulties and lack appropriate access to care. Access to care limitations are particularly relevant to rural populations such as Mississippi. Integrated care models could serve as an innovative solution to increasing access to care for children and youth. In particular, the Three World View model of integrated care asserts that attention should be given to the clinical world (i.e., provision of evidence based services), operational world (i.e., charting, scheduling, referrals, etc.), and the financial world (i.e., funding and reimbursement). The current study utilized program evaluation tools to develop and evaluate a …

Influence Of Competitive Sports On Disordered Eating Behaviors In Young Female Athletes, Jill Bernstorf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The field of treating and learning about eating disorders in athletes is a growing field that continues to flourish as more knowledge is acquired. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence that length of time in the sport, age at which an individual starts a competitive sport, level of competitiveness, and type of sport (leanness vs. non-leanness focused) has on disordered eating behaviors. The participants were college students who were involved in at least one competitive sport in their life. They completed the EAT-26 questionnaire as well as a basic questionnaire. There was not enough data collected …

Preservice Teachers Knowledge Of Adolescent Suicide, Annette N. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher preparation programs have a responsibility to prepare future teachers to teach

and mentor students through their academic years. With the rise of suicide in school age children, responsibility has fallen to teachers to better recognize and understand students who may be suicidal. This study sought to answer the question: to what degree does teaching certification, teaching experience, and suicide awareness embedded coursework predict preservice teachers’ knowledge of suicide awareness and prevention? Data from the Adolescent Suicide Behavior Questionnaire and a demographic survey which asked about participants’ preservice training was sent to universities and colleges in Texas with an undergraduate …

The Conceptualization Of The Positive Cognitive Triad And Associations With Depressive Symptoms In Adolescents., Caroline M. Pittard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Depressive symptoms during adolescence have been found to be associated with negative outcomes such as decreased academic performance, absenteeism, substance abuse, and poor physical health. The positive cognitive triad has been considered to be a protective factor against adolescent depressive symptoms. The positive cognitive triad is made up of three subfactors of cognitions, specifically, positive cognitions about the self, the world, and the future. This dissertation examined the various conceptualizations of the positive cognitive triad and their relation to depressive symptoms. These conceptualizations included considering the positive cognitive triad as a single overall protective factor (additive model), as multiple possible …

A Population-Based Study On The Correlates Of Trauma And Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Behaviors Among Adolescents Aging Out Of Foster Care., Jennifer Artis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children in foster care are confirmed victims of maltreatment who may suffer from chronic trauma. These adverse childhood experiences will often increase the risk of physical and psychological adversities such as self-harm (SH), substance abuse, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), heart disease, depression, etc. Based on previous and current research studies, youth in foster care are less likely to receive adequate treatment for their self-harm behaviors and mental health needs. Failing to provide proper treatment could lead to harmful activities such as deliberate self-harm and potential suicide. This population-based study focuses on the prevalence of SH among youth in foster …

Disrupting Adultism: Practices That Enable Or Constrain Intergroup Contact Between Youth And Adults, Heather K. Kennedy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: The systematic subordination of young people who have little access to goods, resources, and power to make decisions is called adultism (Dejong & Love, 2015). Adultism has three components: attitudinal, institutional, and internalized. Attitudinal adultism, which is the focus of this dissertation, relates to adult's negative attitudes and beliefs regarding young people. Adultism intersects with other forms of oppression in after-school programs and likely impacts outcomes. Youth participatory action research (YPAR) is an orientation to knowledge production in which youth are positioned as experts in their own lives and work collectively with adults to identify an issue, collect data, …

Innovation, Ceos, And Ipos, Zhilu Lin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Part 1, I study if CEOs with innovative ability impose a cost upon their firms. I find that while there is a positive effect of a CEO’s innovative ability on firm innovation, the benefit is only when CEO’s innovative ability is useful for the firm. Further, firms with innovator CEOs spend more on R&D projects but with lower efficiency and hold more cash but with lower cash value compared to firms with non-innovator CEOs. These results suggest that innovator CEOs create an overinvestment problem. In Part 2, I study the effects of talent cycling on IPO long-run performance and …

Empirical Support For Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (Mtfc): A Critical Review, Jennifer Marie Ladner-Graham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC), initially intended as a treatment for chronic juvenile offenders (adolescents having multiple contacts with the juvenile justice system), was designed as an alternative to placement within group facilities. MTFC allows the adolescent to remain in the community while receiving individual and family-based interventions. These interventions are dedicated to decreasing risk factors associated with offending (e.g., poor parental supervision, association with delinquent peers, poor academic performance) and increasing protective factors (e.g., effective parenting practices, healthy relationships with supportive peers, increased school involvement). MTFC has been utilized to meet the needs of a variety of populations (e.g., …

Bullying Of Linguistically Diverse Learners: Results From The Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Jenna Woodarek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bullying is a serious phenomenon yielding significant consequences for youth who are victimized, often targeted due to their perceived level of difference from their peers. This “otherness” can often be amplified in minoritized populations, especially those which have multiple, cooccurring vulnerabilities to be targets of bullying. After a period of bullying rates decreasing in the US, special interest group inquiries found bullying rates to be on the rise again and reportedly motivated by ethnicity or race, immigrant status, and proficiency in the English language. The present research study aims to expand upon the existing pertinent literature base specific to the …

Examining Links Between Social Anxiety And Relational Aggression In Adolescence: The Influence Of Rumination And Anger, Shannon L. Brothers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social anxiety is linked to more covert forms of aggressive behavior, particularly reactive and relational aggression in early adolescent and young adult samples. Adolescents with social anxiety and those who engage in reactive relational aggression are also more likely to have difficulties regulating emotions (e.g., anger) and show maladaptive cognitive coping styles (e.g., rumination). The goal of the present study was to assess the relationship between social anxiety and reactive relational aggression in adolescents (14-17 years), combining the form and function of aggression, and to examine trait anger and anger rumination as underlying factors that may explain the relationship between …

Self-Forgiveness In Japanese Adolescents., Tetsuo "Ted" Sato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature of forgiveness has been proliferated the last two decades (Davis et al., 2015b), but it has primarily focused on forgiveness of others and the research of self-forgiveness has just increased in recent years (Worthington & Langberg, 2012). Woodyatt and Wenzel (2013a) proposed a process-oriented approach of self-forgiveness while considering three possible responses to the self (i.e., genuine self-forgiveness, pseudo self-forgiveness, and self-punitiveness) after interpersonally offending others. Self-forgiveness among children and adolescents and in Japanese culture was discussed. The association of self-forgiveness to depressive and anxiety symptoms, and culturally and developmentally unique factors (i.e., fear of negative evaluation and …

Factors Contributing To The Economic Self-Sufficiency Of At-Risk Foster Youth Who Have Aged Out Of Care, Alexzandra M. Hust

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Foster youth aging out of care encounter many struggles upon transitioning into adulthood, resulting in an increased risk of homelessness and adverse social, health, and financial outcomes. This study aimed to determine if various factors (environmental factors: education, mental health service, social support and personal factors: incarceration, substance abuse referral, and unplanned parenthood) were associated with indicators of economic self-sufficiency (full-time and part-time employment, housing stability, and use of financial, food, and housing assistance). Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to explore risk and predictive factors of each indicator of economic self-sufficiency with a sample of 265 19 year old foster …

Middle School And Community Rockford, Illinios, Katera B. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study of 99 middle school students in an urban area examined the relationship between community factors and student outcomes. The community factors that were examined were school violence based on if a student was a victim or witness and also if the student was an offender of school violence, violence and substance use exposure based on student’s home location, and socioeconomic status were also examined. Student outcomes were examined based on academic testing (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness of College and Careers or PARCC), grade point average (GPA), and school suspension (both Out-of-School Suspension or OSS and in-school-suspension/Alternative Learning …

Examining Hope And Resilience Among Mississippi Adolescents, Kristie Vail Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hope theory involves the way in which individuals perceive their abilities in relation to three factors: 1) clearly defined goals, 2) the specific strategies necessary to obtain those goals (called “pathways”), and 3) the sustained motivation necessary to use those specific strategies (called “agency thinking”) (Snyder et al., 1991; Snyder, Lopez, Shorey, Rand, & Feldman, 2003). Hopeful thinking is defined as a belief that an individual can find the pathways to reach a desired goal and the belief that one can use those designated pathways effectively (Snyder, 2002; Rand & Cheavens, 2009). Research shows that hope in adolescents is positively …

Positive Youth Development In Tanzanian Youth: Utility Of The Developmental Assets Approach, Christopher Fox Drescher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers and practitioners are increasingly interested in positive youth development (PYD), an approach that emphasizes the competencies, strengths, and responsibilities of youth from all backgrounds. This paradigm may be especially useful in research with international youth given the paucity of research on international populations and the stigma surrounding research that focuses on deficits and problem behaviors. I explore youth's developmental strengths using one PYD measure, the Developmental Assets Profile (DAP), within a diverse, national sample of Tanzanian youth. The DAP Total score, Internal and External Assets, and Context Areas all displayed acceptable internal consistencies (.94 ≥ &agr; ≥ .74). Internal …

The Impact Of A Group Counseling Intervention On Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer Older Adolescents' Levels Of Hope, Coping, And Suicidality, Catherine Lamb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This investigation examined the impact of an eight-week group counseling intervention on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) older adolescents’ (aged 18-20) levels of hopefulness, coping skills, and suicidality. An experimental, randomized-controlledtrial research design was employed to identify differences between the intervention group and waitlist control group participants’ hopefulness, coping skills, and suicidality scores. In addition, the relationship between the LGBTQ+ participants’ outcome variables (hopefulness, coping skills, and suicidality) scores was examined. Furthermore, the impact of group therapeutic factors experienced by the LGBTQ+ participants in intervention group for the variables of hopefulness, coping skills, and suicidality was examined. Key …

The Effects Of Family Structure On Juvenile Delinquency, Alisha B. Parks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies show that family structure is an important factor in explaining delinquency among adolescents (Price & Kunz, 2003). There is a lack of research, however, pertaining to cohabitation. The main goals of this study are to determine if there are variations in delinquency between cohabitating and other family types, and to examine the extent to which parental social control measures account for the variation in delinquency by family structure. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are used for the purposes of this study (n = 4,389). While there are no significant differences in violent delinquency …

Emotion Processes In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy For Adolescent Depression, Patrice Siapno Crisostomo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an efficacious treatment for adolescent depression, recent findings indicate that positive treatment effects are reduced among youth with a history of childhood interpersonal trauma (CIT). The processing of emotionally-difficult content has been previously emphasized in therapeutic models for the treatment of depression, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. The present study evaluated the impact of emotion processes on treatment outcomes in two forms of psychotherapy (CBT and usual care treatment) for adolescent depression. This study observationally coded client emotional involvement, specifically during discussions of trauma-related content, as a potentially critical mechanism of change in …

Psychopathology And Functional Impairment In Adolescents With Social Anxiety Disorder, Franklin Mesa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although social anxiety disorder is most often diagnosed during adolescence, few investigations have examined the clinical presentation of this disorder exclusively in adolescents. Prior studies have demonstrated that some clinical features of SAD in adolescents are unique relative to younger children with the condition. Furthermore, the extant literature on daily functional impairment in this population is limited. In this investigation, multiple areas of functioning were examined in adolescents with SAD (n = 16) and normal control adolescents (n = 14): specific social skills, subjective distress and physiological reactivity during one speech performance task and one social interaction task; alcohol use …

Understanding Gender And Sexuality In A Gay/Straight Alliance, Megan L. Duesterhaus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gay/Straight Alliances aimed at providing sexual minority youth and their allies with support, social events, and activism and education opportunities have proliferated in high schools in the United States over the past two decades. This study employs a qualitative, grounded theory approach to examine how sexual minority youth and their allies navigate gender, sexuality, and social movement participation. A year and a half of observation and 16 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with Gay/Straight Alliance members in a high school setting in the southeastern United States. The study reveals that, through the lens of frame analysis, the G/SA is analogous …

Accuracy Of The Peer Informant: What Characteristics Are Related To The Ability To Detect Behavior Problems In Peers?, Brea Anne Lauer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Victimization and rejection by peers leads to and exacerbates behavior problems in children and adolescents. Given the implications of problematic peer relations for adolescents who experience behavior problems, the present study examined factors that may be related to how adolescents perceive peers who exhibit such problems. Specifically, the present study examined the relationship of adolescent peer informants’ socioeconomic status, their prior exposure to psychopathology, their own social competence, and their own behavior problems to their perceptions of peer internalizing and externalizing behavior problems, their liking of individuals who exhibit such problems, and their attributions for the etiology of such problems …

The Creation Of Art Books With Adolescents Diagnosed With An Eating Disorder: Effectiveness, Self-Esteem, And Related Factors, Eileen Chaves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This pilot study undertook a mixed methods exploration of the interaction of art therapy and self-esteem in an adolescent eating disorder population. Using therapeutic art books in a group format, adolescents created art about their feelings, their eating disorder, or whatever else they deemed important. This art technique is relatively new and novel as an art therapy intervention. Therefore, this study aimed to look at the technique's effectiveness at decreasing participants' negative mood states and investigated the technique's ability to affect participants' perceptions of their self-esteem. Measures of global self-esteem and art therapy related self-esteem were measured using the Rosenberg …