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- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Mistretta, Erin
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
- Status: Published
Description
The transition out of high school is a major milestone for adolescents as they earn greater autonomy and responsibilities. An estimated 69.2% of adolescents enroll in higher education immediately following high school completion, including increasing numbers of Latino adolescents (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). Integrative model (García Coll et al., 1996) suggests a need for research on promotive and protective contextual factors for ethnic minority children and adolescents. Guided by the model, the proposed research will explore a salient Latino cultural value, familism, and family communication as predictors of changes in depressive symptoms from high school to university among Latino adolescents (N = 209; 35.6% male; Mage=17.59, SD=.53). Furthermore, sleep, a key bioregulatory mechanism, was explored as a potential moderator of these processes (Dahl & El-Sheikh, 2007). On average, familism values were not associated with college depressive symptoms, but family communication was significantly negatively associated with college depressive symptoms. Neither sleep duration nor sleep problems significantly moderated the association between familism values and college depressive symptom. Patterns were similar for family communication. The interaction between sleep problems and familism-support values were significantly associated with college depressive symptoms. However, when simple slopes were probed, none were significant.
ContributorsPark, HyeJung (Author) / Doane, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Touch appears to be an important component for understanding psychological and emotional well-being, as well as the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships later in life. While research about touch in relation to these topics is gaining momentum, there is still little evidence on the specific effects and processes that take place when touch is negative or harmful. The current study examined how women who have experienced physical or sexual abuse perceive touch in the context of interpersonal relations and in turn, how these experiences, perceptions and attitudes are related to depressive symptoms. Taking into consideration the significance of interpersonal touch, I speculated that 1) attitudes towards touch would be more negative among women who reported physical or sexual abuse than among women who did not; 2) among women who reported past abuse, increased abuse severity would predict increased current depressive symptoms; and 3) among women who reported past abuse, current attitudes towards touch would mediate the relationship between abuse severity and depressive symptoms. As predicted, results indicated that women who reported physical or sexual abuse had less positive attitudes towards touch than women who did not report any abuse. Echoing prior research, reports of childhood and adult abuse predicted increased depressive symptoms. Finally, for women who reported childhood abuse, Discomfort with Social Touch was a significant partial mediator of depressive symptoms, whereas for women who reported adult abuse, both Desire for More Partner Touch and Discomfort with Social Touch were significant partial mediators of depressive symptoms. Results suggested that negative attitudes towards general social touch, in particular, may play a strong role in mediating depressive symptoms among women who reported abuse.
ContributorsSchellenger, Kendall Elizabeth (Author) / Burleson, Mary H. (Thesis advisor) / Roberts, Nicole A. (Committee member) / Hall, Deborah L. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The present study contributed an investigation of prosocial peers, a prospective promotive factor, and its association with depressive symptoms, an internalizing outcome. The study utilized six waves of panel data from 2,002 youth in the control condition of the Community Youth Development Study (mean age 13.12 at Grade 7; 52% male; 66.1% White; 26.6% Hispanic). A series of time-varying effect models (TVEM) illustrated the associations between prosocial peers and depressive symptoms over developmental time from Grades 7 through 12. It was hypothesized that prosocial peers and depressive symptoms would have a negative association for both males and females, and that the association would be moderated by gender at the time of transition to high school. It was expected that females would display a significantly stronger negative association than males between prosocial peers and depressive symptoms at this juncture, particularly due to gender-based differences in socialization that are compounded by transition. To strengthen conclusions about prosocial peers being a promotive factor, secondary analyses included covariates measuring previous levels of depressive symptoms; these models accounted either for baseline depressive symptoms or year-prior symptoms. Results showed, overall, prosocial peers had a significant negative association with depressive symptoms over time, for both males and females. When controlling for baseline depressive symptoms, this was still the case. When controlling for year-prior depressive symptoms, prosocial peers was no longer significantly associated with depressive symptoms for males across Grades 10 through 12. Gender moderated the association between prosocial peers and depressive symptoms at the time of transition to high school as well as other grades. When controlling for baseline depressive symptoms, it was again found that gender moderated the association between prosocial peers and depressive symptoms at the time of transition to high school (Grades 8 and 9) but also at Grade 12. When controlling for year-prior depressive symptoms, gender did not moderate the association at the time of transition to high school, but it did at Grades 10, 11, and 12. Overall, results support the possibility of prosocial peers as a prospective promotive factor for youth mental health.
ContributorsMendes, Skyler H. (Author) / Oesterle, Sabrina (Thesis advisor) / Doane, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Perez La Mar, Marisol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Interpersonal strain is linked with depressive symptoms in middle-aged adults. Self-compassion is an emerging resilience construct that may be advantageous in navigating relationship strain by helping individuals respond to emotions in a kind and nonjudgmental way. Although theory and empirical evidence suggests that self-compassion is protective against the impact of stress on mental health outcomes, many studies have not investigated how self-compassion operates in the context of relationship strain. In addition, few studies have examined psychological or physiological mechanisms by which self-compassion protects against mental health outcomes, depression in particular. Thus, this study examined 1) the extent to which trait self-compassion buffers the relation between family strain and depressive symptoms, and 2) whether these buffering effects are mediated by hope and inflammatory processes (IL-6) in a sample of 762 middle-aged, community-dwelling adults. Results from structural equation models indicated that family strain was unrelated to depressive symptoms and the relation was not moderated by self-compassion. Hope, but not IL-6, mediated the relation between family strain and depressive symptoms and the indirect effect was not conditional on levels of self-compassion. Taken together, the findings suggest that family strain may lead individuals to experience less hope and subsequent increases in depressive symptoms, and further, that a self-compassionate attitude does not affect this relation. Implications for future self-compassion interventions are discussed.
ContributorsMistretta, Erin (Author) / Davis, Mary C. (Thesis advisor) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Lifespan psychological perspectives have long suggested the context in which individuals live having the potential to shape the course of development across the adult lifespan. Thus, it is imperative to examine the role of both the objective and subjective neighborhood context in mitigating the consequences of lifetime adversity on mental and physical health. To address the research questions, data was used from a sample of 362 individuals in midlife who were assessed on lifetime adversity, multiple outcomes of mental and physical health and aspects of the objective and subjective neighborhood. Results showed that reporting more lifetime adversity was associated with poorer mental and physical health. Aspects of the objective and subjective neighborhood, such as green spaces moderated these relationships. The discussion focuses on potential mechanisms underlying why objective and subjective indicators of the neighborhood are protective against lifetime adversity.
ContributorsStaben, Omar E (Author) / Infurna, Frank J. (Thesis advisor) / Luthar, Suniya S. (Committee member) / Grimm, Kevin J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019