Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Ideal Dating And Sexual Partners For Low-Income Heterosexual African American Adolescents, Darnell Nathaniel Motley

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Dating and sexual relationships among adolescents have been identified as both normative and beneficial. However, the research examining the dating and sexual relationships of African American adolescents has been narrow in scope, focusing primarily on risks of intimate partner violence, pregnancy, and STI/HIV transmission. This myopic focus has left a gap in the literature as it relates to the normative aspects of dating and sexual relationships for these youth.

The present study sought to better understand the dating and sexual partner preferences of 51 African American adolescents (male = 32, female = 19) recruited from Chicago and San Francisco. The …

Exposure To Community Violence And The Trajectory Of Internalizing And Externalizing Problems In A Sample Of Low-Income Urban Youth, Jeremy Jay Taylor

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Intro: The transition from childhood to adolescence is a period of increased risk for psychological problems (e.g. Keiley, & Martin, 2002). Exposure to community violence, may impact the degree to which psychological problems emerge during adolescence (Grant et al., 2004). Previous research also indicates that low-income urban youth are disproportionately exposed to severe community violence, leaving them at higher risk to experience psychopathology (Grant et al., 2004). However, recent longitudinal research suggests that this elevated risk may decline throughout the adolescent years (Murphy et al., 2000) especially for internalizing problems (J. Twenge & S. Nolen-Hoeksema, 2002). The current research hypothesizes …

Using A Resiliency Framework To Examine Natural Mentoring Relationships And The Coping Efficacy As Buffers Of The Negative Impact Of Stressors On Academic Outcomes In Urban, Low-Income Ethnic Minority Youth, Rachel M. Feuer

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This paper used Resiliency theory to examine natural mentoring and coping efficacy as protective factors that may buffer the negative impact of stressors on academic and psychosocial outcomes in urban, low-income, Latino youth. Research has demonstrated that natural mentoring may serve a protective role for youth who are experiencing high levels of stressors, and that coping efficacy may correlate with positive outcomes. The present study used Structural Equation Modeling to test the compensatory and protective factors models of resilience to examine the ways in which stress, coping efficacy and natural mentoring interact to predict a variety of academic outcomes for …

Mentoring Youth With Emotional And Behavioral Problems: A Meta-Analytic Review, David Aron Meyerson

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Our current service delivery models are falling short of helping youth with mental health problems. Mentoring is one option that may be effective at helping us address this shortcoming. Youth mentoring theory and research have typically treated mentoring as a prevention intervention (i.e., preventing school dropout, academic decline, psychopathology development, etc.), and research has found youth mentoring to be effective in a variety of domains. The benefits of mentoring may also be applicable to youth with known mental health problems. Research has begun to tackle this question. This meta-analysis addresses the questions of the effectiveness of mentoring programs targeting youth …

Collateral Consequences: The Impact Of State-Level Policies On Perceived Stigma And Stigma Coping Strategies Among Ex-Offenders, Bronwyn Anne Hunter

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Incarcerated individuals have many needs that are not addressed while incarcerated or upon return to the community. These needs are exacerbated by the 'collateral consequences,' and 'invisible punishments' of a criminal conviction which are the state and federal social policies that limit formerly incarcerated persons opportunities for voting, employment, housing, financial benefits, and education, among others. The stigma associated with a criminal conviction may impact offender reentry and reintegration and be compounded by reentry policies. For example, studies have demonstrated that ex-offenders' perceive stigma related to the ex-offender label and that perceived stigma often leads to adverse coping strategies. Furthermore, …

Individual And Community Factors Associated With Thriving Among African American Adolescents In The Context Of Stressors, Adia Shani Gooden

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation used the transactional-ecological framework along with principles from positive youth development literature to examine naturally occurring individual and contextual factors

that promote thriving among African American adolescents. Specifically, this study examined how religiosity, religious support, racial identity, and communalism relate to thriving. This study

also assessed the negative influence of stressors on thriving in order to understand how thriving manifests in the context of risk factors. This cross-sectional study included 152 youth

participants who were surveyed at five Black churches on the south side of Chicago. Structural equation modeling was used to assess whether the proposed model fit …

Identifying Barriers And Facilitators Of Successful School-Based Mental Health And Behavioral Programs Delivered In The Context Of Urban Poverty: A Qualitative Exploration Of Perspectives From Service Providers And Youth, Farahnaz K. Farahmand

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to identify the barriers and facilitators of successful mental health and/or behavioral programs implemented within inner-city schools. The impetus for this study came from prior meta-analytic research which demonstrated programs being offered within inner-city schools, as a whole, showed very low effect sizes, with many of the programs offered to youth within these settings showing iatrogenic effects. The use of qualitative methods, specifically a phenomenological approach, provided an in-depth understanding of 1) service providers' experience(s) delivering mental health and/or behavioral programs in inner-city schools; and, 2) low-income, urban youths' experience(s) with receiving school-based mental …