Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Preventive Mental Health As An Approach To Improving School Outcomes Among Youth: A Meta-Analytic Review, Katrina Elaine Roundfield

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Researchers, policy makers, and educators continuously seek new avenues to enhance the academic achievement of children and adolescents. This goal is particularly pressing among youth from low-income, urban backgrounds, who are at increased risk for school failure (Aud, Wilkinson-Flicker, Kristapovich, Rathbun, Wang, et al., 2011). Taking a more holistic approach to understanding academic achievement, burgeoning research has begun to focus on the mental health of the child. Preventive mental health (PMH) is a theoretically sound and effective means of reducing the incidence of mental illness among youth from varying levels of risk (Durlak & Wells, 1997; 1998; Greenberg, Domitrovich, Bumbarger, …

Parenting Dimensions And Internalizing Symptoms Among Low-Income Latino Adolescents: Cultural Values As Moderators, Crystalia Sulaiman

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Among ethnic minority youth, Latino adolescents disproportionately report higher levels of depression and anxiety than their peers of other ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of the present study is to better understand the familial and sociocultural factors that impact mental health among Latino adolescents. Specifically, the present study examines how youth cultural values (i.e., family obligation and affiliative obedience) moderate the relation between parenting dimensions (i.e., parental acceptance and parental psychological control) and youth internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety) cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Latino adolescents (n = 115) from a Chicago public school categorized as "lowincome" participated in a survey and …

Examining The Pathway From Maternal Criminal Involvement To Adolescent Delinquency, Dina Chavira

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

As incarceration rates across the United States have continued to rise, there has been growing concern with the unintended consequences that have resulted. This has prompted researchers across multiple disciplines to study the effects of incarceration at the individual, family, community, and societal levels. An important but overlooked factor pertains to extensive multiple social service agency involvement and missed opportunities for intervention. Families involved with the criminal justice system (CJS) are often at risk of involvement with other human service agencies, one agency being the child welfare system (CWS). Little is known about families who fall within these two systems, …

The Effect Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy On Strengthening The Attachment Relationship With Foster Parents And Children In Foster Care, Christina Marie Danko

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Children in foster care are more likely to face difficulties in forming a secure attachment relationship and to have problem behaviors than children not in foster care (Dozier & Rutter, 2008). Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment that focuses on strengthening the attachment relationship between the child and the caregiver, as well as reducing the number and intensity of behavior problems. Although PCIT is based on attachment theory, very few studies have examined the effect of PCIT on child-parent attachment or examined the effect of PCIT on attachment in foster care families. This study extends prior work and …

Sexy But Not Sexual: An Examination Of The Sexual Narratives Of African American Adolescent Females, April Timmons

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Much of the research on sexuality during adolescence has focused on the potential negative sequelae of adolescent sexual behavior such as STI acquisition or teenage pregnancy. Researchers have begun to advocate for examining adolescent sexuality as a normative aspect of adolescent development. One aspect of this examination would be to form a more complete understanding of how adolescents develop their sexual identity – their conceptualization of themselves as a sexual being. Erickson’s (1968) identity development theory asserts that identity is developed internally and shaped by the social environment.

Development of a healthy sexual identity may be particularly difficult for African …

The Impact Of Culture And Neighborhood Context On The Mental Health Of Latino Youth, William Martinez

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Latino youth are members of an ethnic group that shares similar values, customs, beliefs, and, often, the Spanish language, that serve as protective factors for some youth. The extent to which these factors are protective across neighborhood contexts has yet to be explored. The present study adds to the literature on contextual correlates of mental health symptomatology in Latino adolescents by examining individual cultural dimensions as protective factors, and environmental risk and protective factors through the lens of the person-environment fit theory (Caplan, 1987). Specifically, the person-environment fit theory is evaluated by proposing that the fit between a Latino youth’s …

The Role Of Multicultural Competence, Privilege, Attributions, And Team Support In Predicting Positive Youth Mentor Outcomes, Rachael Leigh Suffrin

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In the current study we use Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological theory to guide an inquiry into how the social environment surrounding mentors’ matters in regards to mentor outcomes of satisfaction, retention, and extra-role pro-social behavior (i.e., mentors willingness to go above and beyond for their mentee or the mentoring program). Mentors are sampled from mentoring organizations across the United States. Drawing from Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory (1979), we examine mentors embedded in distinct micro- and macrosystems. At the microsystem level we explore how the relationship between the mentor and the (a) mentee, (b) mentees’ family, and (c) the mentoring team may predict …

Gender Role Ideology And Major Choice Of Students In College Religious Groups, Charlynn Anne Odahl

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

In the present study examined students who attend college religious groups to better understand how religious conservatism, religious commitment, and gender may shape gender role ideology and college major choice. A focus on these outcomes of gender role ideology and college major choice is important given the continued persistence of sexism and gender inequality. We examined how personal characteristics and characteristics of the group (i.e., defined by peer and leader attitudes) may shape personal gender role ideology and major choice. We tested how personal, peer, and leader religious conservatism may predict more traditional gender role ideology and the choice of …

Exposure To Violence As A Moderator Of The Relation Between Coping Strategies And Outcomes In Low Income Urban Youth, Alexandra Lauren Barnett

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The current study addresses a paradox in the literature wherein the coping strategies seeming to be most effective for predominantly Caucasian, middle-class, adult samples, sometimes have the opposite effect on low income urban youth. In doing so, exposure to violence is investigated as a moderator of the association between active, behavioral avoidance and cognitive avoidance and internalizing and externalizing outcomes over the short and long term for low income urban youth. Luthar and colleague’s (2000) protective-reactive, protective-enhancing, and vulnerable-reactive models are theoretical bases for this hypothesis. The findings are that the association between behavioral avoidance and internalizing symptoms was protective, …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Gender, Country And Community: Exploring Safety, Trust And Empowerment Among Immigrant Survivors Of Torture., Nancy Bothne

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the community lives of immigrant survivors of torture living in theUnited States. The experiences of survivors in their countries of origin and theUnited Statesare examined by gender. This qualitative study relied on interviews with 16 survivors from multiple countries. The participation of a dissertation advisory group contributed to the study’s integrity, as did collaboration with community partners including a torture survivor advocacy group. The study found that the psychological elements of safety, trust and empowerment are important to both women and men. The lack of empowerment of people to counter claims of their government motivated these participants …

Moderators Of The Efficacy Of Child Obesity Prevention: Exploration Of A, Sabrina Karczewski

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

School-based child obesity intervention literature demonstrates variable body mass index (BMI) related outcomes, but studies do not typically explore the effect of interventions on psychological outcomes nor do they examine the interactions between participation in the intervention and individual participant characteristics. In this study, the effects of a universal school-based obesity prevention were examined on the outcomes of BMI, internalizing, and externalizing outcomes. Potential moderators of the relationship between participation in the intervention and outcomes included ethnicity, baseline weight class, baseline internalizing symptoms, and baseline externalizing symptoms. Results confirm differential benefits of the intervention based on a variety of baseline …

An Examination Through An Ecological Lenses Of The Relationships Among Stressors, Protective Factors, And Psychological Outcomes In The Lives Of Urban Adolescents, Megha Tailor

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Many urban youth are exposed to substantial rates of stressors within different levels of their environment which increases their likelihood for experiencing negative mental health outcomes. Some emerging research suggests that traditional individually-based and family-based protective factors have a limited role in protecting urban youth facing community-based stressors. This study examined whether community-based protective factors moderated the relationship between community-based stressors and psychological symptoms in a sample of 384 urban youth recruited from three schools in the Midwest region. Some support for hypothesis I was found. In particular, community-based protective factor (i.e. religion) was found to lessen the impact of …

Natural Mentoring Relationships As A Buffer Against The Negative Effects Of Stressors On Academic Outcomes Of Latino Adolescents, Claudio Rivera

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This cross-sectional study examined 192 Latino adolescents in their ninth grade of high school. A resiliency theory framework was used for this study. The purpose of the study was to determine if natural mentoring relationships served a compensatory and protective role against stressors on the academic outcomes of Latino adolescents in their first year of high school. Using multiple hierarchical regression analyses, it was determined that stressors and mentoring relationship quality had main effects and interaction effects on the academic outcomes of Latino adolescents. Thus, support for the compensatory and protective model of resilience was provided in some aspects of …

Interaction Effects Of Multiple Levels Of Disadvantage And Kinship Foster Care In African American Youth, Anne Rufa

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Child welfare services' current practice is to attempt to identify kinship foster settings first when removing a child from their home, a practice used disproportionately for African American youth. In this study, potential contextual factors of foster homes (i.e., community environment, caregiver's age, caregiver's physical health) were identified as possible moderators of the relationship between the type of out-of-home placement (i.e., kinship, other out-of-home placement) used and changes in internalizing and externalizing scores in African American youth. Results confirm a significant increase in internalizing and externalizing scores when youth are placed in kinship foster homes with caregivers who are older …

Effects Of Timeframe On The Recall Reliability Of Me/Cfs Symptoms, Meredyth Evans

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

This study served as an investigation of the effects of symptom stability, timeframe length, and momentary symptom severity on the recall reliability of symptoms experienced by individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). ME/CFS symptoms were assessed at four recall timeframes (right now, the past week, the past month, and the past six months) and at two assessment points. Analyses revealed that test-retest reliability was significantly stronger for recall of post-exertlonal malaise (PEM), headaches, and memory problems, when these symptoms were perceived to be stable over time rather than variable. It was also revealed that the optimal timeframe for variable …

Internalizing Symptoms In Youth: A Longitudinal Moderated Mediation Model Of Maternal Symptoms And Parent-Child Interactions, Sarah Bostick

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

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Effectiveness Of Housing First For Non-Chronically Homeless Individuals Who Are High Utilizers Of Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment, Molly Brown

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Chronic homelessness refers to a subset of the homeless population that experiences significant, long-term patterns of housing instability and disabling conditions, such as mental illness. Individuals who are chronically homeless are particularly vulnerable to poor physical and psychological health and often over-utilize costly emergency services. Programs providing housing and support services, referred to as Housing First, have been developed to improve housing stability among people who are chronically homeless by offering permanent housing without preconditions of sobriety or psychiatric treatment compliance.

Housing First is traditionally provided to individuals with a history of chronic homelessness. However, it may also be an …

Continuity Of Conduct And Substance Use Disorders Among Adolescents In The One Year And Two Years Following Exposure To Substance Abuse Treatment, Brian Mcmanus

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

The current study utilized a sample of 138 adolescents from a short-term inpatient chemical dependency recovery hospital. Analyses utilized scales from the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), a semi-structured interview that was administered multiple times over the two years after treatment intake. Analyses examined the persistence of substance abuse, conduct disorder symptomatology, delinquent behavior, and mental distress following treatment. A primary goal of the study was to examine whether adolescents with severe conduct disorder (i.e., those engaging in behaviors causing considerable harm to others) followed different trajectories than their mild/moderate counterparts. This inquiry was predicated largely on research that …

A Case Study Of A Therapeutic Day School's Implementation Of Response To Intervention: The Implementation Process And Impact On Student Behavioral And Academic Functioning, Sophia Duffy

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Response to Intervention (Rtl) has been shown to be effective in improving student academic outcomes, and evaluations of the implementation process have been done in traditional. school settings. Research on Rtl implementation and effectiveness has excluded nontraditional school settings. Using a case study, mixed methods approach, this study fills this gap in the literature by evaluating the implementation process and effectiveness ofRtl at a therapeutic day school. Similar themes regarding the implementation process were found in this study as was found in traditional schools, such as implementation fidelity, importance of teacher training, challenges v.ith well­ defmed frameworks and practices, significance …