Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- Creators: Pina, Armando
Description
Frequent flyers are students who make repeated, unplanned visits to the school nurse, mostly presenting with somatic symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, and musculoskeletal pain. Somatic symptoms are characteristic of pediatric anxiety symptoms and disorders, but the relation between anxiety symptoms and frequent flyer status never has been systematically examined. This study employs data corresponding to 209 students in the 4th and 5th grade (Mage = 9.51, 43.5% girls, 50.9% 51.2% Caucasian, 23.9% Hispanic/Latino) to examine the relation between students' visits to the school nurse (frequent flyer status) and anxiety, including possible variations by children's socio-demographic characteristics, including sex and race/ethnicity. Findings showed statistically significant relations between anxiety and an increased number of nurse visits. A relation between anxiety and sex leading to increased nurse visits was not statistically significant. The statistical model testing race/ethnicity and anxiety in relation to increased nurse visits was found to be significant but driven solely by anxiety. Implications for this study include reframing how frequent flyers are viewed by teachers and addressing possible anxiety in these students.
ContributorsCarnesi, Elizabeth Dora (Author) / Pina, Armando (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Stoll, Ryan (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The present study utilized longitudinal data from a high-risk community sample (n= 377; 166 trauma-exposed; 54% males; 52% children of alcoholics; 73% non-Hispanic/Latino Caucasian; 22% Hispanic/Latino; 5% other ethnicity) to test a series of hypotheses that may help explain the risk pathways that link traumatic stress, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, and problematic alcohol and drug use. Specifically, this study examined whether pre-trauma substance use problems increase risk for trauma exposure (the high-risk hypothesis) or PTSD symptoms (the susceptibility hypothesis), whether PTSD symptoms increase risk for later alcohol/drug problems (the self-medication hypothesis), and whether the association between PTSD symptoms and alcohol/drug problems is due to shared risk factors (the shared vulnerability hypothesis). This study also examined the roles of gender and ethnicity in these pathways. A series of logistic and negative binomial regressions were performed in a path analysis framework. A composite pre-trauma family adversity variable was formed from measures of family conflict, family life stress, parental alcoholism, and other parent psychopathology. Results provided the strongest support for the self-medication hypothesis, such that PTSD symptoms predicted higher levels of later alcohol and drug problems among non-Hispanic/Latino Caucasian participants, over and above the influences of pre-trauma family adversity, pre-trauma substance use problems, trauma exposure, and demographic variables. Results partially supported the high-risk hypothesis, such that adolescent substance use problems had a marginally significant unique effect on risk for assaultive violence exposure but not on overall risk for trauma exposure. There was no support for the susceptibility hypothesis, as pre-trauma adolescent substance use problems did not significantly influence risk for PTSD diagnosis/symptoms over and above the influence of pre-trauma family adversity. Finally, there was little support for the shared vulnerability hypothesis. Neither trauma exposure nor preexisting family adversity accounted for the link between PTSD symptoms and later substance use problems. These results add to a growing body of literature in support of the self-medication hypothesis. Findings extend previous research by showing that PTSD symptoms may influence the development of alcohol and drug problems over and above the influence of trauma exposure itself, preexisting family risk factors, and baseline levels of substance use.
ContributorsHaller, Moira (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Pina, Armando (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014