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- All Subjects: Clinical Psychology
- Genre: Academic theses
- Creators: Luecken, Linda
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Accumulating evidence implicates exposure to adverse childhood experiences in the development of hypocortisolism in the long-term, and researchers are increasingly examining individual-level mechanisms that may underlie, exacerbate or attenuate this relation among at-risk populations. The current study takes a developmentally and theoretically informed approach to examining episodic childhood stressors, inherent and voluntary self-regulation, and physiological reactivity among a longitudinal sample of youth who experienced parental divorce. Participants were drawn from a larger randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for children of divorce between the ages of 9 and 12. The current sample included 159 young adults (mean age = 25.5 years; 53% male; 94% Caucasian) who participated in six waves of data collection, including a 15-year follow-up study. Participants reported on exposure to negative life events (four times over a 9-month period) during childhood, and mothers rated child temperament. Six years later, youth reported on the use of active and avoidant coping strategies, and 15 years later, they participated in a standardized psychosocial stress task and provided salivary cortisol samples prior to and following the task. Path analyses within a structural equation framework revealed that a multiple mediation model best fit the data. It was found that children with better mother-rated self-regulation (i.e. low impulsivity, low negative emotionality, and high attentional focus) exhibited lower total cortisol output 15 years later. In addition, greater self-regulation in childhood predicted greater use of active coping in adolescence, whereas a greater number of negative life events predicted increased use of avoidant coping in adolescence. Finally, a greater number of negative events in childhood predicted marginally lower total cortisol output, and higher levels of active coping in adolescence were associated with greater total cortisol output in young adulthood. Findings suggest that children of divorce who exhibit better self-regulation evidence lower cortisol output during a standardized psychosocial stress task relative to those who have higher impulsivity, lower attentional focus, and/or higher negative emotionality. The conceptual significance of the current findings, including the lack of evidence for hypothesized relations, methodological issues that arose, and issues in need of future research are discussed.
ContributorsHagan, Melissa (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis advisor) / MacKinnon, David (Committee member) / Wolchik, Sharlene (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic disease that requires maintaining tight metabolic control through complex behavioral and pharmaceutical regimens. Subtle cognitive impairments and stress response dysregulation may partially account for problems negotiating life changes and maintaining treatment adherence among emerging adults. The current study examined whether young adults with T1DM physiologically respond to psychological stress in a dysregulated manner compared to non-diabetic peers, and if such individuals also demonstrated greater cognitive declines following psychological stress. Participants included 23 young adults with T1DM and 52 non-diabetic controls yoked to T1DM participants based on age, gender, ethnicity, participant education, and maternal education. Participants completed a laboratory-based social stressor, pre- and post-stressor neurocognitive testing, provided fingerstick blood spots (for glucose levels) and salivary samples (for cortisol levels) at five points across the protocol, and completed psychosocial questionnaires. Related measures ANOVAs were conducted to assess differences between T1DM participants and the average of yoked controls on cortisol and cognitive outcomes. Results demonstrated that differences in cortisol reactivity were dependent on T1DM participants' use of insulin pump therapy (IPT). T1DM participants not using IPT demonstrated elevated cortisol reactivity compared to matched controls. There was no difference in cortisol reactivity between the T1DM participants on IPT and matched controls. On the Stroop task, performance patterns did not differ between participants with T1DM not on IPT and matched controls. The performance of participants with T1DM on IPT slightly improved following the stressor and matched controls slightly worsened. On the Trail Making Test, the performance of participants with T1DM was not different following the stressor whereas participants without T1DM demonstrated a decline following the stressor. Participants with and without T1DM did not differ in patterns of performance on the Rey Verbal Learning Task, Sustained Attention Allocation Task, Controlled Oral Word Association Task, or overall cortisol output across participation. The results of this study are suggestive of an exaggerated cortisol response to psychological stress in T1DM and indicate potential direct and indirect protective influences of IPT.
ContributorsMarreiro, Catherine (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis advisor) / Doane, Leah (Thesis advisor) / Barrera, Manuel (Committee member) / Aiken, Leona (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Cognitive reappraisal, or redefining the meaning of a stressful circumstance, is useful in regulating emotional responses to acute stressors and may be mobilized to up- or down- regulate the stressors’ emotional salience. A conceptually-related but more targeted emotion regulation strategy to that offered by cognitive reappraisal, termed positive cognitive shift, was examined in the current study. Positive cognitive shift (“PCS”) is defined as a point of cognitive transformation during a chronic, stressful situation that alters the meaning and emotional salience of the situation for the individual. Key aspects of the PCS that differentiate it from the broader reappraisal construct are that it 1) is relevant to responses to chronic (versus acute) aversive events, 2) is deployed when there is a mismatch between coping and stressors, and 3) involves insight together with redefinition in meaning of the situation generating stress. The current study used qualitative and quantitative analyses to 1) examine whether PCS is an observable, reliable, and valid experience in response to a stressful event that occurred in the past year, and 2) test whether PCS moderates the relations between the number of past-year stressful life circumstances and subsequent emotional well-being and functional health. A community sample of 175 middle-aged individuals were interviewed regarded a past chronic stressor and completed questionnaires regarding number of past year stressors and health outcomes. Theory-based coding of interviews was conducted to derive reliable scores for PCS, and findings indicated that PCS was evident in 37.7 % of participant responses. Furthermore, PCS scores were related positively to openness, personal growth from one’s most difficult lifetime event, and affect intensity-calm, in line with predictions. Also in line with prediction, PCS moderated the relations between number of past-year life events and health outcomes, such that the deleterious relations between past year stressful events and cognitive functioning, wellbeing, positive affect, and negative affect were weaker among individuals higher versus lower in PCS. Of note, PCS moderation effects diminished as the number of stressful events increased.
ContributorsRivers, Crystal (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Robinson Kurpius, Sharon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Experiencing poor, unrefreshing sleep is a common occurrence for individuals with chronic pain. Sleep disturbance predicts not only greater pain and disability, but also heightened negative affect and reduced positive affect in individuals with chronic pain. Such fluctuations in affect have been linked with more negative and fewer positive social events. For those with chronic pain, negative social relations can exacerbate pain, whereas positive social interactions can help decrease disability. Thus, exploring the sleep‒social functioning process in chronic pain may be one way to improve daily functioning and quality of life. The current study examined positive and negative affect as two parallel mediators of the within-day relations between sleep quality and positive and negative social events in individuals with chronic pain. For 21 days, electronic daily diary reports were collected from 220 individuals with fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by widespread chronic pain. Within-person relations among reports of last night’s sleep quality, afternoon affects and pain, and evening social events were estimated via multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings showed that positive affect mediated both the sleep quality‒positive social events and sleep quality‒negative social events relations. That is, greater than usual sleep disturbance last night predicted afternoon reports of lower than usual positive affect. Low positive affect, in turn, predicted evening reports of fewer than usual positive social events and more than usual negative social events that day, controlling for the effects of afternoon pain. In addition, negative affect mediated the sleep quality‒negative social events link. That is, greater than usual sleep disturbance last night predicted afternoon reports of higher than usual negative affect, which, in turn, predicted evening reports of more than usual negative social events that day, controlling for the effects of afternoon pain. Of the three significant mediated paths, the sleep quality‒positive affect‒positive social events path was the strongest in magnitude. Thus, a night of poor sleep can have an impact on social events the next day in those with chronic pain by dysregulating affect. Further, findings highlight the key role of positive affect in the sleep‒social functioning process and potential socio-affective benefits of sleep interventions in chronic pain.
ContributorsKothari, Dhwani J. (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Examination of Shame as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Disordered Eating
Description
Background: An emerging literature has found associations between food insecurity and disordered eating behaviors. This study was two-fold. First, to replicate the existing literature that food insecurity is associated with disordered eating symptoms including loss of control over eating. Second, to expand the existing literature by examining stigma control theory, which purports that experiences related to food insecurity potentially induce stigma-related shame, with disordered eating behaviors used to cope with the shame. Further, to explore if emotion coping strategies moderate associations between shame and disordered eating. Method: This is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study of 582 adults with food insecurity. Participants completed a 20-minute online survey on food insecurity, shame related to food insecurity, coping strategies, and disordered eating behaviors. Analyses: Hierarchical regressions were computed where food insecurity, shame, and emotion focused coping were entered as predictor variables, followed by their interaction terms, and with disordered eating behaviors entered as outcome variables. Results: Regressions suggest that a) internalized shame partially mediated the relationship between food insecurity and global disordered eating, b) internalized shame did not mediate the relationship between food insecurity and loss of control, c) emotion focused coping did not moderate any relationship. Discussion: Internalized shame may be one mechanism in which disordered symptoms arise in food insecure populations, however emotion focused coping does not have any effect on this relationship. Results indicate that coping strategies alone may not reduce eating disorder symptoms, and internalized shame may be an important predictor of disordered eating in food insecure populations.
ContributorsGomez, Francesca (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis advisor) / Berkel, Cady (Committee member) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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
Subjective social status (SSS) is a marker of perceived social rank that has been linked with depressive symptoms over and above objective socioeconomic status (SES),
but longitudinal studies are limited. SSS has been theorized to capture perceived relative
versus absolute deprivation and the corresponding psychosocial processes underlying
status-based disparities in health. The literature suggests that upward social comparisons
inherent in appraising SSS may confer psychosocial risk, which may in turn increase risk
for depressive symptoms and stress-related inflammation involved in the pathogenesis of
depression. However, no studies have examined whether interpersonal and biological
factors simultaneously contribute to the inverse relation between SSS and depressive
symptoms. This study examined whether (1) lower SSS was longitudinally associated
with increased depressive mood symptoms, independent of income, and (2) whether
higher social strain and lower social support simultaneously mediated the SSS—
depressive mood symptoms relation directly and indirectly through higher interleukin-6
(IL-6). This study utilized secondary data from a representative community sample of
804 middle-aged adults taking part in a study of healthy aging between 2007 and 2012.
Plasma levels of IL-6 and self-reported SSS, social support, and social strain were
assessed at baseline, followed by an assessment of depressive mood symptoms by phone
interview on average 20 months later. Results from multiple regression analysis revealed
that lower SSS predicted higher depressive symptoms at follow-up after adjustment for
sociodemographic characteristics and baseline depressive mood symptoms. Path analysis
indicated that social strain significantly mediated the relation between SSS and
depressive mood symptoms, but not after adjustment for baseline mood symptoms.
Lower social support mediated the relation between lower SSS and higher depressive
symptoms, but relations were non-significant in adjusted models. Contrary to predictions,
paths including IL-6 were not significant. Lower SSS may represent a robust risk factor
for subsequent depressive mood symptoms above and beyond income, in line with the
conceptualization of SSS as a measure of relative deprivation. Further research
examining biopsychosocial mechanisms would elucidate the implications of perceived
low status and inform intervention efforts aimed at reducing the global burden of
depressive symptoms.
ContributorsMoore, Shannon Victoria (Author) / Davis, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Anderson, Samantha (Committee member) / Infurna, Frank (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Examining processes that characterize the ebb and flow of emotions offers insight into how infants modulate their own emotional experience as well as how both mothers and infants jointly regulate their emotional states. Drawing from polyvagal theory, which posits that vagal tone supports the capacity to quickly, flexibly, and adaptively respond to contextual demands (Porges, 2003, 2007), I hypothesized that infants with greater vagal tone (indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia; RSA) would show stronger evidence of emotion regulation and coregulation processes during free play and a frustrating task at 24 weeks child age. To evaluate these hypotheses, I used dynamic structural equation modeling (DSEM; Asparouhov, Hamaker, & Muthén, 2018) to examine biologically-based differences in second-by-second infant emotion regulation (equilibria, volatility, carryover, and feedback loops in positive and negative affect engagement) and mother- and infant-driven coregulation processes, among a sample of 210 low-income, Mexican-origin mother-infant dyads. Results offered evidence of both mother-driven and infant-driven emotion coregulatory processes during free play, which did not differ based on infant RSA. Results offered limited support for RSA-based differences in infant self-regulation processes during the teaching task, such that infants with below average RSA tended to respond to increased negative affect with subsequent increases in positive affect engagement. Prenatal maternal depressive symptoms also accounted for greater infant emotional volatility and weaker mother-driven emotion coregulation. Results highlight the unique roles mothers and infants play in achieving emotion regulation, as well as between-dyad differences in these processes, suggesting multiple pathways towards resilience among low-income, Mexican-origin families.
ContributorsSomers, Jennifer (Author) / Luecken, Linda (Thesis advisor) / McNeish, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Obesity is associated with many well-established health risks as well as high annual public health costs. Intervening in the trajectory of obesity becomes significantly more difficult after a child has reached obesity. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the processes that influence weight early in life. Parents serve as one of the main influences on child health, have a significant impact on the weight of their offspring, and are often incorporated into childhood obesity prevention programs. However, the mutual influence that parents and children have on each other is not accounted for. Using an Actor-Partner Interdependence model, the current study 1) examined the effect of children’s and mother’s temperament (e.g., negative affectivity, effortful control, and impulsivity) on their own weight as well as the weight of the other dyad member, 2) explored the effect of the interaction between mother and child temperament on both members’ weight, 3) assessed the effect of mother’s approach to food on mother and child weight, and 4) investigated how temperament might moderate the relationships between mother’s approach to food and mother and child weight. The sample consisted of 220 mother-child dyads. Children ranged from 4 to 6 years of age. Mothers completed self-report questionnaires on their own temperament and approach to food as well as their child’s temperament. Weight measures were assessed in the laboratory for both mother and child. Results indicated children’s impulsivity was related to their mother’s higher weight. The interaction between mother and child temperament was not significantly associated with weight. However, the interaction between child impulsivity and mother’s approach to food was significant; the effect of the mother’s approach to food on her own weight depended on their child’s impulsivity behaviors. Specifically, mothers’ approach to food on her own weight was nonsignificant when her child showed higher levels of impulsivity. The association of mother’s approach to food with her own weight was stronger when her child exhibited average to low impulsivity levels. This investigation of the influence of mother and child on each other’s weight is well-placed for translation into later obesity preventative and intervention efforts for family systems.
ContributorsOhrt, Tara (Author) / Perez, Marisol (Thesis advisor) / Luecken, Linda (Committee member) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Iida, Masumi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021