Matching Items (3)
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- All Subjects: Adjustment (Psychology)
- Creators: Luecken, Linda J.
Description
Daily life stressors and negative emotional experiences predict poor physical and psychological health. The stress response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is a primary biological system through which stressful experiences impact health and well-being across development. Individuals differ in their capacity for self-regulation and utilize various coping strategies in response to stress. Everyday experiences and emotions are highly variable during adolescence, a time during which self-regulatory abilities may become particularly important for adapting to shifting social contexts. Many adolescents in the U.S. enter college after high school, a context characterized by new opportunities and challenges for self-regulation. Guided by biopsychosocial and daily process approaches, the current study explored everyday stress and negative affect (NA), cortisol reactivity, and self-regulation assessed at the momentary, daily, and trait level among a racially/ethnically and socioeconomically diverse sample of first-year college students (N = 71; Mage = 18.85; 23% male; 52% non-Hispanic White) who completed a modified ecological momentary assessment. It was expected that within-person increases in momentary stress level or NA would be associated with cortisol reactivity assessed in college students' naturalistic settings. It was predicted that these within-person associations would differ based on engagement coping responses assessed via momentary diary reports, by the range of engagement coping responses assessed via diary reports at the end of the day, and by higher trait levels of self-regulation assessed via standard self-report questionnaire. Within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with momentary elevations in cortisol only during moments characterized by greater than usual engagement coping efforts (i.e., within-person
increases). At a different level of analysis, within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with increases in cortisol only for those with low trait levels of coping efficacy and engagement coping. On average, within-person increases in momentary NA were significantly associated with cortisol reactivity. Tests of moderation revealed this momentary association was only significant for those with low trait levels of support-seeking coping.
increases). At a different level of analysis, within-person increases in momentary stress level were significantly associated with increases in cortisol only for those with low trait levels of coping efficacy and engagement coping. On average, within-person increases in momentary NA were significantly associated with cortisol reactivity. Tests of moderation revealed this momentary association was only significant for those with low trait levels of support-seeking coping.
ContributorsSladek, Michael Ronald (Author) / Doane, Leah D (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Female infertility can present a significant challenge to quality of life. To date, few, if any investigations have explored the process by which women adapt to premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), a specific type of infertility, over time. The current investigation proposed a bi-dimensional, multi-factor, model of adjustment characterized by the identification of six latent factors representing personal attributes (resilience resources and vulnerability), coping (adaptive and maladaptive) and outcomes (distress and wellbeing). Measures were collected over the period of one year; personal attributes were assessed at Time 1, coping at Time 2 and outcomes at Time 3. It was hypothesized that coping factors would mediate associations between personal attributes and outcomes. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), simple regressions and single mediator models were utilized to test study hypotheses. Overall, with the exception of coping, the factor structure was consistent with predictions. Two empirically derived coping factors, and a single standalone strategy, avoidance, emerged. The first factor, labeled "approach coping" was comprised of strategies directly addressing the experience of infertility. The second was comprised of strategies indicative of "letting go /moving on." Only avoidance significantly mediated the association between vulnerability and distress.
ContributorsDriscoll, Mary (Author) / Davis, Mary C. (Thesis advisor) / Aiken, Leona S. (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda J. (Committee member) / Zautra, Alex J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Asian American (AA) adolescents and young adults are at risk for poor psychological adjustment and diminished health. Parental involvement and intergenerational gap in acculturation (IGA) have been independently associated with intergenerational acculturative conflict, a common stressor in the AA population. However, few studies have tested how the influence of parental involvement on intergenerational acculturative conflict/family cohesion and subsequent psychological adjustment may vary depending on IGA; and even fewer studies have investigated how such models apply to AA general health. The goals of the present study were, therefore, to identify pathways linking these acculturative family processes to AA young adult general health in a large sample of Filipino and Southeast Asian (SEA) families. Analyses utilized data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (CILS; Portes & Rumbaut, 2001), a national longitudinal study of children from immigrant families. Results suggested that although Filipino and SEA families may differ in the acculturative processes that contribute to intergenerational acculturative conflict and family cohesion, depressive symptoms are an important mechanism through which these family outcomes in adolescence influence young adult general health outcomes in both Filipino and SEA families. This investigation serves to inform future programs aimed at providing targeted interventions for AAs at risk for long-term psychological disorders and physical health problems.
ContributorsTanaka, Rika (Author) / Luecken, Linda J. (Thesis advisor) / Gonzales, Nancy (Committee member) / Doane Sampey, Leah (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015