Theses and Dissertations
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on-cisgender identity, age of awareness, age of social transition, primary caregiver acceptance, secondary caregiver acceptance, and mental health. Hypotheses were partially supported for age of social transition with mental health, parental acceptance with mental health, and awareness-transition gap with parental acceptance. This study investigated under studied concepts of social transition and parental acceptance that appear to have an effect on the mental health of transgender adults.
Graduating from college is an important time of life transitions and career development for undergraduates and their future. Future self-identification, the connection between an individual’s current and future self, can negatively predict depression and utilize self-control as a mechanism to achieve later academic goals. Investigating an individual’s future self- identification, depression scores, and behavioral outcomes in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic can help optimize college graduate success in an uncertain world. The present study aimed to (1) determine if earlier future self-identification moderated the changes between later outcomes (e.g., depression, perceived alcohol consumption, and academic and career goals) from pre-COVID-19 to during COVID-19, (2) investigate if psychological resources (e.g., self-control and emotion regulation) had any intermediary effects between earlier future self-identification and later depression and behavioral outcomes during the pandemic, and (3) test for any moderation effects of future self-identification on the relationship between available psychological resources before COVID-19 and during COVID-19. The present research demonstrated that students with greater earlier future self-identification were less likely to change their academic and career goals and were less likely to experience symptoms of depression during the pandemic. Additionally, self-control was demonstrated as an intermediary factor between earlier future self-identification and later academic and career goal changes. These findings may help college graduates develop resilience in other stressful situations.
This paper examines the effects of childhood maltreatment on attachment and development. Humans are social beings; connection is at the core of human behavior. This social nature is what drives the need to form relationships with others. Relationships help humans learn and understand the social world around them relatively safely and securely. However, to ensure that these relationships bring safety and security, the ability to do so must be established during the first 18 months of children’s lives (Kennedy & Kennedy, 2004). The relationships humans form are based on how they establish attachments, or emotional and long-term bonds and relationships, to a primary caregiver or parent as children (Bowlby, 1969). These primary attachments include secure, anxious-preoccupied, insecure-avoidant, or fearful-avoidant attachments and can have significant effects on individuals or emerging adults in early adulthood (ages 18-25). Primary attachments act as a safe and organized view of how human interactions and relationships work and act as a secure base for children to explore and successfully understand the social world around them (Feeney & Noller, 1996). However, this depends on whether or not safety, a secure base, and an organized view of relationships are formed between the caregiver and child during the first 18 months of the child’s life. Moreover, if a child experiences maltreatment such as abuse and neglect from primary caregivers during their first 18 months of life, it can severely affect what type of attachment style is formed and how development occurs in early adulthood (Connell-Corrick, 2011). Therefore, to thoroughly understand how childhood maltreatment affects attachment and development, an overview of both attachment theory and childhood maltreatment, the effects of childhood maltreatment on both attachment and development, and the importance of protective factors, interventions, and preventions will be discussed.