Psychology Commons^™

Demographic Disparities In College Students’ Psychological Adjustment During Covid-19, Anna Marston

Honors Theses

The goal of the present study was to explore psychological adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic in undergraduate college students. Since March 2020, undergraduates have endured extended lockdowns, quarantines, and social distancing efforts that may affect mental health, especially for historically marginalized groups such as women and people of color. Furthermore, research on coping styles suggests that those who cope with a stressor such as a pandemic in healthy, adaptive ways may be protected against psychological difficulty. In February/March 2021 (Time 1) and again in April/May 2021 (Time 2), college students (N = 277) from two residential liberal arts institutions were …

Moving On After Critical Incidents In Health Care: A Qualitative Study Of The Perspectives And Experiences Of Second Victims, Melanie Buhlmann, Beverley Ewens, Amineh Rashidi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Aims: To gain a deeper understanding of nurses and midwives' experiences following involvement in a critical incident in a non-critical care area and to explore how they have 'moved-on' from the event.

Design: An interpretive descriptive design guided inductive inquiry to interpret the meaning of moving-on.

Methods: Purposive sampling recruited 10 nurses and midwives. Data collection comprised semi-structured interviews, memos and field notes. Data were concurrently collected and analysed during 2016–2017 with NVivo 11. The thematic analysis enabled a coherent analytical framework evolving emerging themes and transformation of the data into credible interpretive description findings, adhering to the COREQ reporting …

Typologies Of Stress Appraisal And Problem-Focused Coping: Associations With Compliance With Public Health Recommendations During The Covid-19 Pandemic., Justin F. Landy, Aya Shigeto, Daniel J. Laxman, Lawrence M. Scheier

Faculty Articles

BACKGROUND: Given prior research finding that young adults are less likely to engage in recommended public health behaviors (PHBs) than older adults, understanding who is and is not likely to engage in PHBs among young adults is crucial to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on the Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping, this study examined how typologies of stress appraisal (SA) and problem-focused coping (PFC) among young adults were associated with compliance with public health recommendations during the pandemic.

METHODS: An online sample of young adults in the United States, ages 18-35, was recruited during the early …

Individual Differences In Response To Hostile And Benevolent Sexism In A Stem Interview Context: The Moderating Role Of Behavioral Activation, Elizabeth Kiebel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women continue to face sexism in workplace contexts, especially those that are male dominated, such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Yet, women often fail to confront the sexism they experience, despite confrontation being an effective way to cope with and prevent future harassment (Fitzgerald et al., 1995; Magley, 2002). To date, no one has assessed the potential moderating role of personality differences related to approach motivation on women’s confrontation of sexism. In this study, women were exposed to either a hostilely sexist or benevolently sexist question during a mock job interview that was purportedly being conducted as part …

Editorial: Creativity And Innovation In Times Of Crisis (Covid-19), Min Tang, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Zorana Ivcevic

Psychology Faculty Publications

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 has brought the world society, economy and people's daily lives into a crisis. At the time we are writing the editorial, this crisis has been accompanying us for almost 2 years and will still have far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease. The focus of the current Research Topic is the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on creativity and innovation and vice versa, as well as their relationship to resilience and coping.

We are pleased to have received many submissions from authors representing different disciplines and countries. Through rigorous reviews, …

Predicting Depression, Anxiety, And Burden: Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, And Coping In Caregivers Of Individuals With Dementia, Claire Grant

ETD Archive

Caregivers of Individuals with Dementia (IWDs) face unique stressors as a result of their role as caregiver. While the negative outcomes associated with providing care for an IWD are well established, including increased levels of burden and increased symptoms of depression and anxiety, the predictors of these well-being outcomes are not. Based on previous research, in the proposed study, predictors include self-compassion, self-esteem, and coping techniques. It is currently unknown how these variables impact outcomes like depression, anxiety, and burden individually or how they fit together into a larger theoretical model of caregiving. This line of research has three main …

The Role Of Rumination In Predicting Sleep Quality, Christina Harper

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown links between rumination and sleep quality, giving some evidence to coping mechanisms such as mindfulness and alcohol use that may affect rumination and sleep quality (Crain et al., 2017; Lydon et al., 2016). This study aimed to explore how rumination, mindfulness, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences contribute to sleep quality. Specifically, this study hypothesized that rumination, mindfulness, and alcohol use would predict sleep quality. Additionally, this study hypothesized that alcohol use, mindfulness, and alcohol related consequences would moderate the relationship between rumination and sleep quality. Participants completed the study online and were recruited from both a university …

Internal State Language And Coping In Narratives Of Covid-19: Relation To Psychological Well-Being, Divya Pradipkumar Patel

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Covid-19 pandemic had global consequences for billions of individuals, including high rates of mortality and morbidity, lost income, and prolonged social isolation. In the short and long term, this crisis will have an impact on people's lives and mental health. The current correlational study looks at how internal state language, stress, and coping are used in college students' narratives concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown experiences in relation to psychological well-being. A sample of 216 undergraduate students completed surveys that recorded their narrative experiences of COVID-19, psychological well-being, depression severity, and measure of how stressful occurrences in one’s life …

Personality And Coping In Response To Traumatic Experiences In Emerging Adult Women, Julia J. Beier

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Intimate dating violence is a common occurrence, especially among women (CDC, 2019). Because this type of trauma is so prevalent, it is important to explore how experiences of it impact women and how they cope with its effects. This study explored how individual differences impact the ways in which young women cope with trauma, as well as whether the type of trauma moderate the link between individual differences and coping strategies. Participants were 304 college-age women from a large university in the southeastern United States. Trauma was select items from the Trauma History Questionnaire, while coping was measured using the …

Does Attachment Predict Coping Strategies? An In-Depth Look At Millennials During Covid-19, Clinton Johnson

Art Therapy | Master's Theses

Individuals form attachments during the early stages of their lives, with the caregiver serving as their first attachment figure. An individual's attachment style may predict how an individual will react to challenges in life. Responses to challenges may be either adaptive (solution-focused) or maladaptive (solution-avoidant). The objective of this study was to examine how millennial adults demonstrate adaptive coping skills across attachment styles. This unique study explored the relationship between attachment style and coping strategies among five millennial adults. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling via social media and were included if they met the criteria of being a millennial …

Racial Differences In Stranger Harassment Coping Strategies, Megan Quintiliano

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

Stranger harassment is a pervasive, recurrent and, potentially damaging problem that requires women to cope with harmful effects. Stranger harassment is also a field that lacks in satisfactory research. With the aim of helping female victims and due to previous studies primarily focused on how White women in particular cope the present work will examine the racial differences in stranger harassment coping strategies. Additionally, understanding whether ideologies like system justification are associated with why women cope through certain methods is equally as important and will also be examined in the present work. The present study used a questionnaire method at …

Qualitative Exploration Of The Impact Of Bed Bug Infestation In Rural Settings, Dorota Anna Krotkiewicz

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractBed bugs have been common household insects for centuries and are a challenge to eradicate, but the extent to which bed bug infestations psychologically impact individuals and families is largely uninvestigated. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to investigate the lived experiences of families in rural areas in Nevada who had experienced bed bug infestations. The transactional model of stress and coping was used as a framework for this research. Participants were recruited using posters placed in public areas, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten participants to gather data. Major and minor themes and meanings were derived from …

Ethnic Differences In The Way College Students Cope With Stress, Temavulane N. Motsa

Masters Theses

Stress is one of the key concerns for students and has also been labelled the highest factor impacting students’ academic performance in colleges. A student’s ability to adequately cope with their stressors could determine their academic success or failure. This study examined whether there are any ethnic differences in the way African American and Caucasian American Students cope with stress. Data were collected from Students at Eastern Illinois University which included 45 African American Students and 40 Caucasian American students. The results revealed no significant differences in the way Caucasian American and African American students cope with stress. This paper …

The Lived Experience Of Individuals Thinking About Food And Coping With Stress, Tobi Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Stress results in many people altering their eating patterns, often consuming food high in sugar and fat. Such behavior is a factor in the growing obesity epidemic and can potentially cause the development of chronic diseases, resulting in employment problems and billions of extra dollars spent on national health care programs. Researchers have focused on the concept of “emotional eating” while overlooking the overarching research question of this study, which was about exploring the experience of individuals using eating behavior as a coping mechanism to deal with stress. All responses were viewed through the lens of social cognitive theory. Interviews …

Emotion Regulation And Coping As Mediators Of The Association Between Perfectionism And Self-Esteem In Athletes Compared To Non-Athletes And Honors Students, Hollie Minichiello

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increased levels of perfectionism have been shown to be associated with increased levels of burnout, feelings of depression, heightened levels of anxiety, decreased self-esteem, and hindered overall performance. The current study aimed to investigate whether coping mechanisms and emotion regulation mediate the association between perfectionism and self-esteem in athletes compared to non-athletes and honors students. Four hundred ninety-three primarily white (n = 60.0 %), female (n = 83.0 %), psychology major, participants aged 18-49, completed a series of questionnaires including: the Self-Esteem Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 2002), the Self-liking and Self-Competence Scale (Tafarodi & Swann Jr, …

Culturally Relevant Coping Strategies Within Bicultural Latine College Students In The Face Of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment And Policy, Cindy M. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Despite their protective potential against anti-immigrant sentiment and policy, the connections between bicultural identity development and culturally relevant coping among temporarily documented Latinx college students remain unstudied. Therefore, this study (a) describes culturally relevant coping strategies used by bicultural Latinx college students, (b) examines the role cultural identity plays in bicultural Latinx college students’ coping strategies, and (c) illuminates the role institutional level systems play in liminally-documented college students’ coping with anti-immigrant sentiment and policy. Participants in this study included 16 Latine college students (M_age = 21.19, SD = 3.21) with DACA (n = 14) or TPS (n = …

Examining The Impact Of Parental Racial Socialization And Critical Consciousness On Black Adolescents’ Coping With Racism-Related Stress, Chandler Alexandra Golden

Theses and Dissertations

In addition to universal stressors, Black adolescents also experience racism-related stressors. The physical and emotional consequences of racism-related stressors can be harmful to Black youth. To mitigate racism-related stress, Black youth may engage in various forms of coping. Critical consciousness and racial socialization are culturally relevant factors that have been protective against the negative impact of racism-related stress, with coping as one mechanism that undergirds this protection. Moreover, research has also begun to theorize critical action as a type of racialized coping. Past research has largely examined the impact of critical consciousness and racial socialization on coping separately and yielded …

Interpersonal Violence And Mental Health Outcomes: Mediation By Self-Efficacy And Coping, Eunice Magalhaes, John H. Grych, Celia Ferreira, Carla Antunes, Ana Prioste, Ines Jongenelen

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

There is a compelling need to explore the mechanisms linking violence to mental health. This study tested the mediating role of self-efficacy and coping in the association between victimization and mental health. Data were obtained from 422 adults (aged 18-77; M = 30.05; SD = 10.93). Self-efficacy and maladaptive coping strategies mediated the association between physical victimization and anxiety, and the association between psychological victimization and satisfaction with life anxiety and depression. Self-efficacy and adaptive coping also mediated the association between psychological victimization and satisfaction with life. This study provides important implications for research and practice.

Psychological Resilience In Student-Athletes During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Henley Lapid

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the psychological resilience process in student-athletes during the unique adverse context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study sought to answer the following research questions guided by Fisher et al.’s (2019) heuristic framework: (1) What resilience mechanisms, (2) promoting factors, and (3) resilience outcomes were experienced by participants in their resilience demonstrations? and (4) How does the resilience process unfold over time across adverse contexts including the COVID-19 pandemic? Nine student-athletes from Wilfrid Laurier University were interviewed on their experiences demonstrating resilience within and outside of the pandemic. A thematic analysis (Braun …

Family Resilience Model: The Influence Of Cultural Identity, Coping, Family Strain, Socioeconomic Status, And Community Support To The Formation Of Family Resilience Among Batak Toba Ethnic Group, Sri Redatin Retno Pudjiati, Sri Hartati Dewi Reksodiputro, R. Urip Purwono

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

A resilient family is a family that is capable of survival, overcoming difficult challenges, and then grow stronger (Walsh, 2006). Cultural identity is one of the factors that play a role in forming family resilience, because in order to build the understanding and values of family resilience one needs to build it in accordance to local culture. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that build family resilience in Indonesian families, especially Batak Toba families. The measurement tool used in this study is Walsh Family Resilience Questionnaire (WFRQ) to measure family resilience (α = .879), The Responses …

Nicu Experiences Of Adoptive Parents & Desired Preparation, Catherine J. Howe

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Parents who have newborns admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) have multiple experiences and emotions. Additional social and emotional layers are experienced by adoptive couples when the infant they wish to adopt needs specialized care. This research study was completed to find out what adoptive parents experience in the NICU and what preparation would have been helpful. The method included semi-structured, open-ended interviews with seven couples who adopted a newborn at a Midwestern adoption agency within the past three years and had a NICU experience. The results described adoptive couples’ experiences on the unit, bonding and attachment, fears …

To Engage Or Disengage: The Impact Of Coping Strategies, Sex, And Stress History On Cortisol Reactivity Among Urban Adolescents, Madeline Curzon

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Stress affects people daily and can prove maladaptive to mental health if chronic or acute. Effective coping responses may mitigate the negative effects of intense or prolonged stress through physiological processes such as HPA axis activity. Previous research has found one specific coping dimension, engagement/disengagement, to be predictive of cortisol reactivity in response to lab-induced stressors. Sex and stress history also contribute to the relationship between coping and cortisol reactivity. However, these processes are not as well understood in adolescent populations and have not been explored across different types of stressors. The present study explored the relationship between coping and …

Coping With The Pandemic In College, Sam Beery

Honors Projects

This experiment studied the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of a college population from spring 2021 to fall 2021. It measured levels of stress, anxiety, coping strategies, depression, and social support reported by participants via several well validated psychological surveys. It was created with Qualtrics and distributed via advertisements in Campus Update and the SONA scheduler.

Stress And Coping In Youth With Spina Bifida: A Brief Longitudinal Study In A Summer Camp Setting, Diana Margaret Ohanian, Tessa Kritikos, Olivia Clark, Kezia C. Shirkey, Meridith Starnes., Grayson Holmbeck

Psychology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Introduction: It is well established that youth with chronic conditions experience elevated levels of stress; the manner in which they respond to or cope with this stress is likely to impact both health and psychosocial outcomes. The current study examined stress and coping in youth and young adults with spina bifida (SB) using the response to stress questionnaire-SB version (RSQ-SB; Connor-Smith et al., 2000).

Methods: Data were collected as part of a camp-based psychosocial intervention for children (ages 7–13), adolescents (ages 14–19), and young adults (ages 20–38) with SB. Participants completed the RSQ-SB as well as questionnaires assessing demographics …

A Qualitative Study Of Stress And Coping To Inform The Leads Health Promotion Trial For African American Adolescents With Overweight And Obesity, Mary Quattlebaum, Colby Kipp, Dawn Wilson-King, Allison Sweeney Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to conduct in-depth individual interviews with 30 African American adolescents with overweight and obesity and their families (caregiver/adolescent dyads) to gain a better understanding of how to integrate stress and coping essential elements into an existing family-based health promotion program for weight loss. Interview data from 30 African American adolescents with overweight and obesity (Mage = 15.30 ± 2.18; MBMI%-ile = 96.7 ± 3.90) were transcribed and coded for themes using inductive and deductive approaches by two independent coders. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable (r = 0.70–0.80) and discrepancies were resolved to 100% agreement. The …

Predicting First Responder Resilience: Investigating The Indirect Effect Of Posttraumatic Cognitions Through Coping Processes, Michael Dolezal

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Psychological resilience, or one’s ability to return to their baseline biopsychosocialspiritual homeostasis following a stressor or potentially traumatic event (PTE), is protective against psychological distress and symptom presentations such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet little is known about what psychosocial factors influence resilience. Building upon theories of resilience, coping, and posttraumatic cognitions, this study investigated the indirect pathway from posttraumatic cognitions to resilience through coping processes among a sample of N = 117 first responders. Path analysis was used to test the parallel indirect effect model. Results from the path analysis suggested that only the hypothesized indirect effect from …

Feeling Smarter: The Impact Of Emotional Intelligence And Situational Academic Stressors On Resilience, Coping, And Well-Being, Jenna Bohrer

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Since its inception, Salovey and Mayer’s (1990) construct of emotional intelligence has been associated with positive outcomes from heightened academic performance to resilience (Connor & Slear, 2009; Costa & Faria, 2020). The present study focused on the impact of emotional intelligence and academic stress on coping, resilience, and psychological well-being within a college population. It was hypothesized that those high in emotional intelligence would employ more approach coping strategies and fewer avoidance coping strategies compared to those low in emotional intelligence, and that the higher stress scenario would result in more avoidance and less approach coping compared to the moderate …

Negative Urgency Predicts Maladaptive Coping Strategies, Alec Martin

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Negative urgency is defined as the disposition to act rashly when under distress. This personality subtype is strongly tied to problematic alcohol and substance use, self-harming behaviors, and binge eating following a distressful period (Cyders et al., 2013; Fischer et al., 2004). The current study hypothesized that participants (62.07% Female, M = 19.81, SD = 4.16, 73.28% White, 6.90% Hispanic, 6.90% African American, 3.45% Native American/Alaskan Native, 3.45% Asian American, 3.45% Middle Eastern, 1.72% Other) who scored high in negative urgency would endorse more maladaptive coping strategies after a negative mood induction (n = 57), compared to a neutral …

A Qualitative Investigation Into The Trauma Exhibited By First Responders Tackling The Opioid Epidemic In Tennessee, Thalia Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent increases in opioid overdose rates have changed the role of first responders on the front lines of this national crisis. The present study used a semi-structured qualitative interview to investigate how the increase in opioids, opioid-related harm, and opioid-related death within Tennessee has affected the first responder population. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics (N = 30) from rural-serving counties in Tennessee completed a semi-structured interview. Eight themes emerged from the interviews: (1) mental health symptoms, including posttraumatic stress disorder and secondary traumatic stress symptoms; (2) coping behaviors; (3) available resources; (4) barriers to accessing resources; (5) recommendations …

Understanding Black Experiences And Access Barriers In The Expressive Arts Activities And Therapies, Jadea Harris, Ana K. Marcelo

Psychology

Black individuals in America experience racism, discrimination, and microaggressions that can affect their mental and physical health. (Alvarez, Liang, & Neville, 2016). Unfortunately, Black individuals typically do not seek out mental health treatment because of mistrust, stigma, misdiagnosis, and lack of culturally sensitive approaches to treatment (NAMI, 2002). One way to encourage Black individuals to seek mental health support and to provide more support could be through expressive arts. Expressive outlets may act as a protective barrier against adverse experiences and serve as an opportunity to bring healing amongst uncomfortable feelings of racial trauma and more. Historical and empirical evidence …