Psychology Commons^™

Multivariate Relationships Of Binge Watching-Drinking-Eating With Depression, Anxiety, And Stress In College Students, Katina Letrice Clarke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Binge eating and drinking have been studied with respect to stress, anxiety, and depression, but little is known about the emerging phenomenon of binge watching television programming. Guided by escape theory and the uses and gratification theory, this cross-sectional, correlational study addressed multivariate relations of binge drinking, binge eating, and binge watching with depression, anxiety, and stress among 102 college students ages 18 to 24. Multivariate canonical correlation results revealed that participants with low anxiety scores tended to have low scores on binge eating and drinking but high scores on binge watching. Participants with low stress scores and high anxiety …

Psychological Relationship Between Acculturation And Caribbean Immigrants In The Northeast United States, Lisa Chamberlain- Gordon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Caribbean immigrants' challenges with acculturation following immigration to the United States, could result in acculturative stress, discrimination, stereotyping, and mental health issues. This study examined the relationship between cultural levels of interaction (LCI), acculturation orientation levels (AOLs), and acculturation levels (ALs) as well as examined the relationship between acculturative stress levels (ASLs), mental health problems, and discrimination/ stereotyping among Caribbean immigrants, age 25-54, in a northeast U.S. metro. Bourhis' interactive acculturation model was the theoretical foundation for this study. It was hypothesized that (a) there would be a relationship between LCI measured in language, food, religion, and education and AOL …

Mentorship Programs, Depression Symptomatology, And Quality Of Life, Tiesha L. Scott

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a debilitating mental health disorder that has the potential to affect an individual's lifespan adversely; adolescents who reside in low-income urban environments are more at risk of developing the disorder. The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to compare depression symptomatology and quality of life rates among emerging adults who enrolled and emerging adults who did not enroll in a mentorship program as an adolescent while in high school. Beck's cognitive model of depression was used as a theoretical foundation to determine how negative schemas are formed in adolescents who show symptoms of depression. The …

Bully-Victimization, Depression, And School Connectedness In Early Adolescent Students, Irene Gonzalez-Herrer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

During early adolescence, schools play a significant role in the development of students. An issue that continues to be a serious concern for students, parents, teachers, and school officials in the U.S. and around the world is bullying. The primary purpose of this study was to examine school connectedness as a mediator between bully-victimization and depressive symptomatology in early adolescence. The secondary purpose of the study was to explore how gender and bullying classification groups (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim, and non-involved) may relate to levels of reported school connectedness. The current study found low school connectedness partially mediated the relationship …

Factors Influencing Success In Day Treatment Programs For Children Ages 5 To 10, Leah Morken

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Improving the success rates of children in mental health treatment is an important step to bettering lives. Day treatment programs are intermediate level treatment modalities that help children who are struggling with their mental health. Success rates differ for children in day treatment programs and several studies have been done evaluating various factors. This research addressed whether a child who had been exposed to trauma showed as much success in a program as a child that had not been exposed to trauma. Other variables were to determine if children have different levels of success based on their diagnosis. The study …

Depression Screening For Bariatric Surgical Patients, Cova Teresa Stidham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity in the United States has increased to epidemic numbers over the last decade. Practitioners need to reverse the trend. To address the problem of depression in obesity, a practice guideline from a bariatric clinic for under-served populations was proposed to an expert panel. The Spell Out on First Use (PHQ-9) screening is a valid and reliable self-screening tool to assist the practitioner in determining the level of depression if any. The PHQ-9 has nine questions. No formal screening existed at the bariatric clinic, and the practice guideline (with algorithm and revised workflow) was proposed for use at the clinic. …

The Relationship Between Combat Experience, Veteran Pathology And The Pathology Of Their Intimate Partners: What Factors Predict The Pathology Of Veterans And Their Intimate Partners, Edwin A. Brennan

Dissertations

Problem Statement

Military members and their family members who are part of the Global War on Terrorism have experienced deployments and war for over sixteen years and with the resulting toll on both the veteran and their intimate partner. As a result, higher levels of pathology, such as PTSD, Anxiety, and Depression have been experienced by this population. While research has studied the effect of combat on military members, very little research has addressed the effects on family members. Further, no research that has been found by this researcher, has addressed the concept of resonating of pathology between the combat …

Cognitive Behavioral Group Therapy For Blind And Visually Impaired Adults: Acceptance, Problem-Solving, And Cognitive Distortions, Collin D. Mullins

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This study sought to explore the efficacy of group Problem-Solving Therapy (PST) adapted for individuals living with visual impairment. Specifically, this study investigated changes in quality of life, levels of acceptance, problem-solving, depression, and cognitive distortions following treatment. A group of ten participants (N = 10) were recruited in a large Northeastern city from a non-profit organization providing programming to individuals with visual impairment. Combined pretest-posttest experimental and qualitative study designs were utilized. Individuals were assessed using measures to acquire baseline and outcomes on depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II), acceptance (Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II), quality of life (World Health Organization Quality …

Predictors Of Stress In Caregivers Of Family Members With Multiple Sclerosis, Lucy Lubinski

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system that typically results in cognitive and physical impairment. Depending upon the severity of symptoms, persons with MS often need assistance from caregivers in their daily lives. Research has shown that when a family member is diagnosed with the disease, household members become a source of caregiver support. The relationships between caregiver burden and chronic illness and between stress and health are well-documented. The impact of caregiving on individuals with MS remains a continued clinical concern, particularly because depression is highly co-occurring in those with the disease. Understanding the predictors …

An Extension Of The Savoring Approach To Increasing Help-Seeking For Depression: Reducing Self-Focus Through A Writing Task And Savoring Psa, Tasha Straszewski

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Past depression mass media campaigns have been utilized to increase mental health literacy, decrease stigma, or a combination of the two. However, among these campaigns, some have not been effective, and some have resulted in iatrogenic effects (see Gulliver, Griffiths, & Christensen, 2010, for examples of both). In hopes of improving the effectiveness of depression campaigns, laboratory studies have utilized persuasion approaches to increase help-seeking among individuals with heightened depressive symptomatology. More recently, Siegel and Thomson (2016) turned to the utility of infusing individuals with positive emotion to increase help-seeking intentions (i.e., positive emotion infusions; PEIs) and found initial success …

A Qualitative Study Of Native American Older Adults And Elderly Depressive Symptoms And Protective Factors, Kristen K. Pyke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Research of depression in Native American older adults and elderly has been limited. The research that has been done has typically fallen into three domains: exploring the frequency of depression (Carleton et al., 2013), identifying or developing culturally competent measurement tools (Ackerson, Dick, Manson, & Beals, 2018), and determining the protective factors that reduce the effects of depressions. More specifically, Kaufman et al. (2013) found that spirituality was beneficial in reducing depression; however, this varied by tribe within their sample. Whitbeck et al. (2002) found that perceived social support among elderly Native Americans was a protective factor for the individuals …

Relative Wealth, Subjective Social Status, And Their Associations With Depression: Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Study In Rural Uganda, Meghan L. Smith, Bernard Kakuhikire, C. Baguma, Justin D. Rasmussen, David Bangsberg, Multiple Additional Authors

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide, and has been found to be a consistent correlate of socioeconomic status (SES). The relative deprivation hypothesis proposes that one mechanism linking SES to health involves social comparisons, suggesting that relative SES rather than absolute SES is of primary importance in determining health status. Using data from a whole-population sample of 1,620 participants residing in rural southwestern Uganda, we estimated the independent associations between objective and subjective relative wealth and probable depression, as measured by the depression subscale of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCLD). Objective relative wealth was measured by an asset …

Inquiry Into The Correlation Between Burnout And Depression, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Jay Verkuilen, Renzo Bianchi

Publications and Research

The extent to which burnout refers to anything other than a depressive condition remains an object of controversy among occupational health specialists. In three studies conducted in two different countries and two different languages, we investigated the discriminant validity of burnout scales by evaluating the magnitude of the correlation between (latent) burnout and (latent) depression. In Study 1 (N = 911), burnout was assessed with the Maslach Burnout Inventory–General Survey’s Exhaustion subscale and depression with the depression module of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). In Study 2 (N = 1,386), the Shirom–Melamed Burnout Measure was used to assess burnout and …

Burnout: Moving Beyond The Status Quo, Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Sam Schonfeld, Éric Laurent

Publications and Research

Burnout has been defined as a job-induced syndrome combining emotional exhaustion, depersonalization/cynicism, and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. In this article, we expand on past analyses of burnout by reviewing key, yet overlooked, problems affecting the construct. We concomitantly examine the implications of these problems for the overall validity of burnout research. Our work shows that burnout research is undermined by 4 main problems. First, what constitutes a case of burnout is unclear. Second, the basic conceptualization and operationalization of burnout are ill aligned. Third, burnout is unlikely to be the specifically job-induced syndrome it has been posited to …

Strong Black Women, Depression, And The Pentecostal Church, Dawn E. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a global health concern and among the top two causes of disability

and disease. African-Americans often seek help from the Black church, but

Pentecostal churches may fail to provide effective support due to doctrinal beliefs.

African-American women with depression struggle due to psychosocial implications

of the diagnosis. This research study used social constructionism and the

biopsychosocial model of health to explore the lived experiences of African-

American women suffering from self-reported depression while attending

Pentecostal churches in the Northeast United States. Fourteen women, ages

20 to 76, participated in this qualitative, phenomenological study. Data obtained

from the semistructured, …

Examining The Relationship Between Self-Compassion And Emotion Regulation Strategies Using Ambulatory Assessment Methods, Lindsay Mae Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Self-compassion focuses on how individuals treat themselves during periods of suffering. Overall, self-compassion is positively associated with adaptive mental health outcomes and negatively associated with psychopathology. One potential mechanism by which self-compassion may influence other constructs is emotion regulation. Unfortunately, most research about emotion regulation is conducted using retrospective reporting, meaning that the data are subject to memory biases. Ambulatory assessment methods allow for more frequent sampling, thus decreasing the reliance on recall. Using this methodology, the present study examined how differences in self-compassion were related to emotion regulation in daily life. Contrary to predictions, few ambulatory measures (depression, anxiety, …

Navigating The Closet: A Mixed Methods Approach To Assessing The Impact Of Concealment On Psychological Outcomes For Sexual And Gender Minorities, James Michael M. Brennan

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Background: Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals suffer at disproportionate rates of depression, anxiety, and substance use, among other mental and physical health outcomes, compared to heterosexual individuals. Concealment of non-heterosexual sexual identity and/or non-cisgender gender identity may be a key contributor to these disparities. Many SGM individuals engage in concealment as a means to avoid victimization, or because of negative perceptions of their own identity. Concealment as a construct has been conceptualized as comprising cognitive, affective, and behavioral components, each of which individually has been demonstrated to have negative health impacts. Additionally, concealment occurs over time between the intrapersonal …

Longitudinal Associations Between Functional Disability, Depression, And Suicide In Middle-Aged And Older Adults, Julie Ann Lutz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Suicide is a significant public health problem among older adults in the United States and around the world. There has been little research to date on longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms, both of which have been posited to be associated with suicide risk among middle-aged and older adults, and their association with death by suicide. The aims of this study were to 1) characterize longitudinal change in functional disability and depressive symptoms separately; 2) characterize the directional associations between functional disability and depressive symptoms in bivariate models; and 3) determine how different patterns of change among these …

The Association Of Victimization And Depression: An Investigation Of The Implicated Factors Of Social Anxiety, Body Esteem, And Social Support, Jacqueline Jo Klossing

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Victimization is an experience that affects a substantial portion of the adolescent population, and it is well established that it is associated with a host of negative outcomes, including depression. While the relations between victimization and depression have been researched extensively, there are a number of factors that may contribute to this association. Furthermore, both internal and external factors can play a role. Internally, the unique attribute of being socially anxious as well as the perceptions one carries regarding their appearance (i.e., body esteem) are implicated as potential mediators between victimization and depression. Externally, the social support an adolescent perceives …

Effectiveness Of Yoga Therapy On Pain And Related Depression, Anxiety, Perceived Stress, And Quality Of Life, Karen Romani

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Individuals are becoming more dependent on medication for conditions such as chronic-pain, anxiety, and depression. It is reported that patients are often overprescribed medication while health outcomes do not improve. The medicalization of society is distracting attention from the possibility of other therapies such as complementary or alternative medicine (CAMs) that can improve health outcomes if they were as supported as pharmacological research and better received by the medical community. Yoga and meditation, the components of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and yoga therapy, have been shown as effective CAMs for cases of anxiety and depression related to chronic illness …

The Effects Of Oral Contraceptives On Mood And Affect: A Meta-Analysis, Erica M. Motter

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Combined oral contraceptive (COC) pills are widely used by women of reproductive age, but there is still little conclusive evidence that exists about the mood-related side effects associated with their use. This meta-analysis examined the relationship between oral contraceptive use and mood effects such as depression and anxiety to determine what role, if any, that COCs may have in the worsening or improvement of women’s mood when taking them. Effect sizes compared the differences in women’s mood scores before taking COCs and after one or more cycles of use. Seventeen studies made up of 25 individual samples contributed 71 effect …

A Program Of Research On Burnout-Depression Overlap, Irvin Sam Schonfeld

Publications and Research

The article describes a program of research aimed at unraveling the nature of the relationship of job-related burnout to depression. The research tends to show that burnout symptoms are depressive symptoms and what is termed a state of burnout often reflects an episode of depression.

Social Jetlag, Depressive Symptoms, And Longitudinal Outcomes In College Students, Morgan P. Reid

Theses and Dissertations

Social jetlag refers to the chronic shift in sleep timing between work and free days and has been associated with a variety of negative physical and psychological outcomes. Existing research on social jetlag has relied heavily on cross-sectional studies, preventing researchers and practitioners from assessing the effects of social jetlag over time. The current study used longitudinal data to explore the directionality of the association between social jetlag and depressive symptoms as well as the longitudinal associations between social jetlag, academic performance, and wellbeing in college students. Gender and race were also assessed as potential moderators of these associations. Cross-lagged …

Competing Strength-Based Models Of Trauma And Suicidality In A High-Risk Primary Care Sample, Samantha Mladen

Theses and Dissertations

There is limited research on the relationship between trauma exposure, depression, and suicidality, particularly in high-risk primary care samples. The present study aims to: 1) characterize the prevalence of suicidality, depression, and trauma exposure in this sample; 2)develop and test models of the relationships between suicidality, depression, and trauma exposure in this sample; 3) augment the selected model with key protective factors, including social support and religiosity; and 4) further elaborate the nature of religiosity as a potential protective factor using the subscales of the Attitudes toward God scale, Anger toward God and Comfort with God.

Patients (n …

Longitudinal Patterns Of Depression Symptoms Among Emerging Adults, Sarah W. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Research has suggested that depression symptoms generally decrease after late adolescence; however, there is increasing attention paid to depression symptoms among college students given the stressors unique to this time period and negative outcomes associated with depression. This study examined latent trajectories of depression symptom severity among college students. Participants were 9,889 college students who participated in the Spit for Science project (Dick et al., 2011). Growth Mixture Modeling was used to identify the presence of four subgroups of individuals with similar patterns of initial level and change in depression severity over four years of college, including Low/Minimal (55.9%), Decreasing …

Acculturative Stress And Depressive Symptoms And Anxiety Symptoms In Asian American Emerging Adults: Identifying Moderators And Mediators, Anh-Thuy Le

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored relations among acculturative stress (i.e., perceived discrimination, parent-child communication difficulties, incongruent parent-child values, and a general measure of acculturative stress), depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, family conflict, ethnic identity, and social support in a sample of 207 Asian American emerging adults (ages 18-25). Regressions showed that acculturative stress was positively associated with depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms. Likewise, acculturative stress was positively related to family conflict, regardless of how the former was operationalized. Greater family conflict was also associated with greater depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms.

Mediation models found that, for each predictor of acculturative stress, family conflict …

The Role Of Strength: Navigating Perinatal Loss Among Black Women, Ashley N. Hill

Theses and Dissertations

In the U.S., Black mothers experience fetal and infant mortality at alarming rates when compared to White and Latina mothers (Gregory, Drake, & Martin, 2018). The intent of this study was to examine perinatal loss among Black American women and to expand understanding of how the Strong Black Woman (SBW) ideology influences bereavement. Data were gathered from (N=109) Black American bereaved mothers. It was predicted that endorsement of differing aspects of the SBW would moderate the relationship between perinatal grief and psychosocial outcomes (i.e., depression and post-traumatic growth). Regression analyses, alongside a bootstrapping procedure via PROCESS (Hayes, 2017), …

Suicide Watch: How Netflix Landed On A Cultural Landmine, Shabnaj Chowdhury

Capstones

Following the premiere of the television series “13 Reasons Why” in 2017, Netflix stepped squarely on a cultural landmine, stirring controversy over its graphic depiction of teen suicide.

According to media experts, showing a teenager kill themselves on television was completely unprecedented. Mental health experts say the act has significant consequences for “at risk” audience members, or people who were already experiencing suicidal thoughts before watching the show. It is proven that entertainment, and television specifically, can strongly influence audience behaviors and thoughts.

Suicide is one of the only causes of deaths that’s on the rise in the United States, …

Exploring The Link Between Genetics, Chronic Stress, And Depression, Michael Woller

Undergraduate Research and Creative Opportunities (URCO) Grant Program

Depression is a very debilitating mental illness that affects about 7% of the American Population [1] and up to about 350 million people worldwide [2]. Since the cause for depression and the reason why some individuals are more vulnerable than others are currently unclear, studying paradigms that model depression in animals, such as the learned helplessness paradigm, is useful to explore possible mechanisms and devise new treatments. To explore a possible link between genetics, chronic stress and depression, we have exposed mice vulnerable to stress to an inescapable forced swim paradigm. During the forced swim test, the mice were monitored …

The Influence Of Depressive Symptoms On Frn Amplitude: An Eeg Study, Jonathan Burton

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Background: Individuals diagnosed with depression demonstrate differences in neural activation patterns detectable using electroencephalogram (EEG). One of these differences has been specifically linked with the event-related potential (ERP) component called feedback-related negativity (FRN). In participants diagnosed with depression, the FRN has been shown to have larger amplitudes in response to negative feedback. However, previous research has only specifically looked at the difference of this amplitude between groups, specifically those with and those without a diagnosis of depression. Objective: The goal of the current study was to examine whether a continuous range of depressive symptoms in participants can predict FRN amplitudes, …