Counseling Psychology Commons^™

Embracing Relapse: For College Students, Consider It A Gift, Charlynn Small

University Staff Publications

The transition from high school to college can be an awesome experience. In addition to establishing independence from parents, students need to learn how to negotiate the norms of new social groups, set healthy boundaries, and make decisions about finances, academics and career planning. Other more personal decisions include whether to engage in sex or substance use. Faced with these kinds of decisions, many of which have serious consequences, students can easily become overwhelmed.

Intersectional Identities And Microaggressions: The Experience Of Transgender Females, Cory Daniel Gerwe

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Historically, attention given to privileged LGBT minorities such as white LGBT individuals, renders those who experience multiple minority identities as unacknowledged. There is a scarcity of research exploring the intersectional experiences of transgender individuals and how these experiences impact their mental health and well-being. For that reason, the intent of this study was to learn more about transgender females who hold additional minority statuses, their transition experiences, their circumstances, and the nature of their social environment. Specifically, I investigated trans female experiences of transitioning with a specific focus on the intersection of gender identity, race, socioeconomic status (SES), and age. …

A Comparison Of College Student-Athletes With Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) And Nonathletes With Adhd: Academic Adjustment, Severity Of Mental Health Concerns, And Complexity Of Life Concerns, Sonja Lund

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

College student-athletes traditionally experience more stressors than their nonathletic peers due to their dual roles. ADHD causes impairments in executive functioning which can cause additional stress for the college student. The combination of ADHD and student-athlete status may impact academic adjustment, mental health severity, and complexity of college life concerns. Presently, no study has explored how student-athletes with ADHD may compare with nonathletes with ADHD in terms of these elements. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in literature and by analyzing archival data collected from university students across the United States. This study utilized an ex-post …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Career Oriented Military Spouses Pursuing Education For Career Advancement, Melody D. Agbisit

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

In the United States, the number of dual career couples has been increasing due to economic and personal growth needs (Pixley, 2009). Furthermore, more careers are requiring specialized education than before (O'Neill & Thomson, 2013). However, there is a limited understanding of the trailing career oriented military spouse as a student population (Gleiman & Swearengen, 2012). This phenomenological qualitative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of 11 military spouses pursuing education to advance their career options. Participants were military spouses who valued career development and who were currently enrolled or admitted in a post-secondary educational or training program. In …

Toward Christian-Identity Response Theory: Exploring Identity, Spirituality, And Response To Adversity Among African American Males Placed At Risk, Charity Hannah Garcia

Faculty Publications

Christian-Identity Response Theory (C-IRT) adds to limited research integrating spiritual development as a central component of human development across the life span and provides a substantive theory for how spiritual development may lead to transformative practice. Thirty-four African American males in three age groups (13-17; 18-25; 26+), placed at risk during adolescence and connected with Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) organizations at the time of data collection, engaged in the research process. Focus group discussions or initial interviews were followed by in-depth interviews. Line-by-line and incident-by-incident coding led to the formation of tentative categories and themes. Data was compared to …

Does Self-Regulation Mediate The Relationship Between Locus Of Control And Resiliency Related Outcomes?, Alexander J. Mcgregor 6971928

Western Research Forum

Locus of control (LOC) has been implicated in predicting mental wellbeing outcomes in a variety of theories and empirical studies, however the mediating mechanisms between the trait and mental wellbeing are not well known. The King and Rothstein (2010) model of resiliency posits self-regulation as the active mechanism that leads to recovery in resiliency related outcomes following significant adversity. This study investigated the mediating role of affective, behavioral, and cognitive self-regulation between locus of control, depression, and anxiety using mediation analysis. The results showed LOC significantly predicted all three self-regulation components, as well both depression and anxiety. behavioral and cognitive …

Trauma And Violence Informed Care Workshop For Teachers, Christina Amico, Michelle Philippe

Western Research Forum

Teachers play an integral role in the healthy growth and development of their students. Students that have experienced traumatic events, chronic adversity, and structural violence are vulnerable to a myriad of biological, social, emotional, and behavioural impairments (Blaustein, 2013). Problematic classroom behaviour, therefore, could be a reflection of exposure to trauma and violence. As teachers play an important front-line role in the lives of their students (Brunzell, Waters, & Stokes, 2015), it is important that teachers receive relevant and high-quality professional development, particularly in the area of trauma and violence-informed teaching practices. There is a gap in research on effective …

Self-Affirmation Theory And The Change Of Perception Of Self And Threats, Isaac Wicker

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s American culture, people experience high rates of distress and depression (Kessler et al., 2005). Self-affirmation theory has been shown to help people reduce stress and defensiveness in the face of a wide variety of stressors. A shortcoming of self-affirmation exercises is that there are barriers to using them in naturalistic settings. One such barrier is that the affirmation content needs to be regulated so that it is not closely related to the salient stressor or else the effects of the affirmation could be counteracted. The current study sought to use a prompt-guided value selection for the self-affirmation exercise …

Partnering With A Different Faith: Muslim American Women’S Experiences, Beyza Sinan

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The events of September 11, 2001 critically impacted the identity of Muslim Americans in the United States and spurred attention to their experiences within the psychological literature. Prior literature has rarely explored these individuals’ within-group differences, defined Muslim American identity as bicultural, or explored experiences of being in a romantic relationship. This study was intended to address the gaps in the literature by focusing on the bicultural identity and the experience of interfaith relationships among Muslim American women. The following research questions guided this study: 1) How do Muslim American women experience their romantic relationship with a non-Muslim partner? 2) …

The “Journey” Of Doctoral Study In Applied Psychology: Lived Experiences Of Students In Counseling, Clinical, And School Psychology, Jason S. Frydman, Linda Cheung, Joseph G. Ponterotto

The Qualitative Report

A qualitative methodology was adopted to explore the lived experiences of doctoral level students in applied psychology. A total of 15 students ranging in age from 24 to 43, who were at varying levels of their doctoral education, participated in individual semi-structured interviews exploring themes related to influences for the pursuit of graduate study, experiences in their program of study, and general reflections of the graduate school journey. All interviews were conducted from a constructivist-interpretivist model, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using a phenomenological coding approach (Creswell, 2012; Moustakas, 1994). Emergent broad themes included antecedents leading to graduate study, current experience …

Examining Protective Factors That Promote Resilience Among Children With An Incarcerated Parent, Celeste A. Jackson

Dissertations

Children of incarcerated parents (CIP) represent one of the most vulnerable, at-risk populations in the United States (Johnston, 1995). Best estimates suggests there are 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parents and African-American children are disproportionately represented at a figure of 1 in 9 children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Much of the research attempting to understand this population and guide intervention efforts has employed a deficit-based approach, highlighting the plethora of adverse risk factors and negative outcomes associated with being the child of an incarcerated parent. This approach fails to acknowledge the presence of resilience inherent in these youth. The …

College Students' Disenfranchised Grief Following A Breakup: The Effect Of Relationship Closeness And Perceived Stigma On Grief, Jennifer E. Reimer

Master's Theses

Grief is a universal reaction to loss. Losses are often associated to the death of a loved one, however, they may also originate from the end of an intimate partner relationship. Whereas studies have focused on grief after a divorce or on symptomology students endure after a death, this article attends to the understudied college student experience of grief following a breakup. Within emerging adulthood, the loss of a close romantic relationship may be challenging to navigate alongside the daily stressors of college. Stigmatization by means of social cues convey sentiments, such as the need to get over an ex-partner, …

Religion And Spirituality In Clinical Practice: An Exploration Of Reluctance Among Practitioners., David Drew, Jessica Banks

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Across the United States, an overwhelming majority of the population claim that religion and spirituality beliefs shape their worldview and assist in coping with life stressors. Yet, the literature has shown that mental health practitioners reported discomfort integrating religion and spiritually in clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to explore whether license-holding mental health professionals in Southern California develop reluctance toward addressing religion/spirituality with their clients. Through snowball sampling, 52 clinicians composed of social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, nurses, psychologists, and psychiatrists were recruited across Southern California (N =52). The participants were measured descriptively based on …

Exploring Genetic Biomarkers In A Sample Of Depressed Patients In The Uae, Nailah Mahmood

Psychology Theses

This study focuses on exploring the expression of genes associated with depressive and anxiety disorders (AD) among depressed individuals. Anxiety and depression are well known to co-occur with each other. Growing research in the field of genetics has indicated moderate familial aggregation for these disorders. The aim of this study is to analyze gene expression among a depressed population residing in the UAE. The genes were chosen to be studied (PPARGC1A, CAMKMT, HSD11B1, SLC6A4, and MAOA) have previously been linked to depression and anxiety in other populations. The study employed a case-control design, where gene …

Professional Competencies For Providing Interventions For Gambling Related Problems And Other High-Risk Behavior – Perspective Of Social Welfare Professionals, Neven Ricijas Ph.D., Sabina Mandic Ma, Dora Dodig Hundric Ph.D.

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Important aspect of the social welfare system is providing interventions for children and youth with behavioral problems, mainly externalizing behavioral disorders, delinquent behavior and addictions. In Croatia, children and youth can be referred to the social welfare system based on the Social Welfare Act, Family Act or Youth Courts Act, depending on the age, etiology and context of behavioral problems.

The main aim of this study was to explore how often social welfare professionals encounter different phenomenological types of behavioral problems and how confident they feel for providing interventions. Special emphasis will be put on gambling related problems among children …

The Efficacy Of The “Who Really Wins?” Youth Gambling Prevention Program – Preliminary Results From The First National Implementation Study, Neven Ricijas Ph.D., Dora Dodig Hundric Ph.D., Sanja Radic Bursac Ma, Ana Rakic Ma

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

“Who really wins” is the first comprehensive youth gambling prevention program developed and implemented in Croatia, based on a national research study on a representative sample of high-school students, conducted at the University of Zagreb. The Program was developed, piloted and modified between 2012 – 2014. Its pilot implementation was performed in 2 high-schools in the City of Zagreb, by the authors of the Program and evaluation results indicated a decrease in risk factors, namely better knowledge about gambling and less gambling related cognitive distortions among training group, compared to a control group of students (Huić et al., 2017).

In …

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Personality, And Risk Recognition, Emily M. Harms

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine the influence of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and personality in predicting risk recognition among college-aged women. Participants included 223 female undergraduate students at Illinois State University. Students were presented the opportunity to receive extra credit for participating in the study. Participants completed a demographics questionnaire, the Big Five Inventory, and the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 – Brief Form. Participants then read through a risk recognition vignette that was divided into 13 scenes and were asked to indicate when they were no longer comfortable in the situation and when they would leave …

Mental Health Disparities For Latino Immigrants & Its Impact On Psychological Well-Being, Ana Do Rosario Sousa

Counseling Psychology | Master's Theses

In the present study, the researcher sought to examine the factors associated with Latino immigrants and the barriers/challenges that are faced in mental health. The main question that the researcher focuses on in the present study is: What are some of the mental health challenges for Latino immigrants & how do these disparities further impact psychological well-being? Furthermore, the research focuses on highlighting the variables that are increasingly damaging to the minority population of Latinos in the United States. These variables include lack of health insurance, stigma, acculturation issues, legal issues, and biopsychosocial factors, such as socioeconomic class. In multiple …

Supporting Marin County Youth Suffering From Anxiety And Depression, Victoria L. Grajeda

Counseling Psychology | Master's Theses

This toolkit was created to help shed light on the impact a stressful high school environment can have on today’s youth, and provide teachers, students, and parents with up-to-date information on what resources are available within the county of Marin. When working with adolescents, it is important to consider environmental threats to their mental health (i.e., lack of sleep) in order to make proper referrals and treatment plans. A study done by Kelley, Lockley, Kelley, & Evans (2017) implemented a 10:00 a.m. start time at an urban school in England. By delaying school start times, Kelley et al., found that …

A Trauma-Informed Art Therapy Approach For Boys With Sexualized Problematic Behaviors: A Group Method, Rebecca Cyr

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Treatment of sexualized problematic behaviors (SPB) in children and adolescents is a clinically significant issue that has little research to support the fundamental need for treatment. Sexualized problematic behaviors (SPB) can be an indication of a child’s own complex trauma and sexual abuse history. Using a relational, trauma-informed, and developmental approach to treatment in combination with art therapy, children demonstrating SPB can learn how to better express themselves, respect themselves and others, and heal a fragmented sense of self. Developmentally, these children and adolescents are in the stage where identity formation is the main task. Therefore, this series of art …