Matching Items (24)
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- All Subjects: Counseling psychology
- Creators: Tracey, Terence
- Creators: Bludworth, James
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
Individuals in a romantic relationship may avoid discussing certain topics with their partner, often to avoid relational and emotional risk. This strategy is known as topic avoidance and may be an important factor for individuals in turbulent romantic relationship to consider due to the importance of communicating with a partner. The associations between characteristics such as openness, relationship satisfaction, and perceived partner unresponsiveness, and topic avoidance have not been directly studied within dogmatism literature. However, dogmatism, defined as a person’s relative openness (or closedness) to new information, may be an important construct associated with topic avoidance that strengthens the associations between perceived partner unresponsiveness, and topic avoidance, and weakens the association between openness, relationship satisfaction, and topic avoidance. Using data from 334 individuals in romantic relationships, results revealed that perceived partner unresponsiveness was positively associated with State of the Relationship, relationship satisfaction was positively associated with Conflict-Inducing and Negative Life Experiences, such that as scores on relationship satisfaction and perceived partner unresponsiveness increased, topic avoidance scores also increased. Openness was not associated with Topic Avoidance. Additionally, as predicted, dogmatism moderated the association between relationship satisfaction and State of the Relationship Topic Avoidance, the associations between perceived partner unresponsiveness and State of the Relationship Topic Avoidance and Negative Life Experiences Topic Avoidance. This research has important implications for clinicians working with individuals who present with relational concerns
and exhibit dogmatic behavior. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
and exhibit dogmatic behavior. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
ContributorsMikel, Lindsay (Author) / Randall, Ashley K. (Thesis advisor) / Bludworth, James (Committee member) / Guerrero, Laura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Depression has been found to be a major problem for young adults in college, with multiple studies indicating high prevalence rates for this population. College students struggling with depression suffer from various consequences, including academic impairment and suicidal ideation, with suicide being a leading cause of death for people in the typical age range for undergraduates. Grounded in cognitive behavior theory and humanistic theory, this study examined the intra and interpersonal factors related to depression among undergraduates. Specifically, the interrelations between friend social support, sense of belonging to the college, mattering to friends, hope, and depressive symptoms were explored. Sex and number of close friends were controlled for, as the literature also showed evidence of their significant relations to depression. The sample consisted of 177 undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25 from a large southwestern university. Participants responded to an online survey. While participants represented a diverse range of ethnicities, the majority were White. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that hope and sense of belonging to the college negatively predicted depressive symptoms. Furthermore, through zero-order correlations, it was found that friend social support, sense of belonging to the college, mattering to friends, and hope were all positively correlated with each other. Implications for prevention and clinical practice include the roles that counselors, college personnel, and students play in the battle against depression.
ContributorsTang, Edwin (Author) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon E (Thesis advisor) / Kinnier, Richard (Committee member) / Bludworth, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak that were heightened in the United States between 2020 and 2021, reports of racial discrimination increased compared to year’s past for those who identify as Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC). Experiences of racial discrimination are stressful, and individuals in a romantic relationship may turn to their partner to receive support. However, in the context of interracial romantic relationships where one partner identifies as White, experiences of racial discrimination may be sometimes dismissed or minimized from the White partner, which may further the distress of their BIPOC partner. Nevertheless, supportive behaviors, such as empathy, may alleviate distress and validate one’s experience of racial discrimination. Relational savoring is an online intervention that has been theorized to increase empathy and perspective taking by focusing on positive relational memories associated with one’s partner, grounded in attachment theory. The purpose of this study was to examine whether relational savoring was effective in increasing empathy and perspective taking in a sample of White identified individuals who are in a romantic relationship with a BIPOC partner. This study collected data from 111 White identified individuals in an interracial romantic relationship with a BIPOC partner for an average of 8.9 years. It was hypothesized that White identified individuals who participated in a relational savoring task would report increased empathy and perspective taking when their partner experiences a racially discriminatory event via a vignette, compared to those in the control condition. Contrary to the study’s hypothesis, participation in the relational savoring task did not statistically change White participant’ ability to perspective take and report empathic concern when faced with their partner experiencing acts of racial microaggression. Results did, however, show that relational savoring, compared with a control condition, is effective in decreasing negative emotion after exposure to a vignette that depicts a racial microaggression.
ContributorsBorders, Jessica Ilana (Author) / Randall, Ashley K (Thesis advisor) / Bludworth, James (Committee member) / Dillon, Frank (Committee member) / Miramontes, Lilia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Research indicates that mental health issues are highly prevalent among college students (e.g., American College Health Association, 2018) and that first-generation students could be a higher risk of experiencing psychological distress compared to continuing-generation college students (House et al., 2019). Research also documents approximately two thirds of psychologically distressed college students do not seek help or mental health services (Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010). The purpose of the study was to contribute to the line of research on help seeking attitude and intention among college students by (1) examining potential group differences in the relationships between self-stigma, experiential avoidance, and help seeking attitude between first-generation college students and continuing-generation college students and (2) proposing the integrative model including variables from the moderated mediation model proposed by Brenner et al. (2019) and the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). The final sample for the study consisted of 295 college students (Mage = 22.95, SDage = 5.94). Of the final sample consisting of 295 participants, 174 (59%) students identified themselves as continuing-generation college students whereas 121 (41%) students identified as first-generation college students. The data were collected via an online survey and were analyzed through descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. The results did not support the proposed differences between first-generation college students and continuing-generation college students in the moderated mediation model of help seeking. The inconsistent results between the present study and previous research may be attributable to sample size, diversity factors of samples, and/or timing of data collection. The results rendered some support for adding self-stigma as a modifying variable to the theory of planned behavior. The implications of the results in relation to research and practice are discussed.
ContributorsAoyagi, Keiko (Author) / Bludworth, James (Thesis advisor) / Dillon, Frank R. (Thesis advisor) / Tran, Alicia (Giac-Thao) (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022