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- All Subjects: Mental Health
- Creators: Department of Psychology
Description
Climate change presents a significant threat to human health, both mental and physical; as a result, it has become one of the most commonly discussed phenomena of the 21st century. As many people are aware, a wide range of social and physical factors affects mental health. However, many people fail to realize that these increases global temperatures also have a significant impact on mental health as a result of increased vulnerability that is often manifested through one's emotions. By analyzing perceptions of people across the globe, in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Fiji, we were able to pinpoint these emotions and trace them individual's feelings of worry, distress, and hope that resulted from their perceived impacts on climate change. Overall, we found that people tend to have overall more negative emotional reaction when it comes to the perceived effects of climate change. Of the respondents, more men than women expressed concern regarding the various negative implications. Finally, those in the United Kingdom exhibited a stronger emotional response, followed by those in New Zealand and Fiji, respectively.
ContributorsSmith, Austin Lee (Author) / Wutich, Amber (Thesis director) / du Bray, Margaret (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
This honors thesis is a combination of analytical and creative endeavors. The research portion of the project examines contemporary transgender issues, including social, emotional, and cultural concerns. Most notably, the research focuses on the relationship between social support and mental health. These findings suggest that children who fail to receive adequate support are liable to face severe developmental and emotional consequences. The accumulation of this research ultimately serves as the foundation and justification for the creative work, which is presented as a children's book directed at transgender and gender non-confirming youths.
ContributorsBellon, Kyana JeRay (Author) / Nelson, Margaret (Thesis director) / Barca, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Investment and interest in mental health on a global scale is increasing. This interest creates a need to gain an in depth understanding about how mental illness is conceptualized and treated in different cultures. This article aims to explore the views of maternal mental health in Kenya's sub-counties. Maternal mental health has a significant impact on child development outcomes, so the topic has cross-generational importance. Ten focus group discussions with a variety of participants were conducted to understand the health care system. The participants were from four Kenya sub-counties: Rachuonyo N., Wagwe, Okiki Amayo, Nyative and they were either members of either SCHMT (Sub-county health management team), CHEW (community health extension worker), facility/staff of the county hospital, HHCDO (Homa Hills Community Development Organization), THRIVE II staff (Catholic Relief Service's early childhood development program) or mothers and fathers with children under two years of age. The qualitative data were translated and transcribed on site and then retranslated and counterchecked. A secondary data analysis using Atlas.ti was performed to identify themes and trends in factors that contribute to maternal wellbeing. Four main categories were identified as having prevalent effects on the Kenyan mothers' mental health: cultural values, broken support system, limitations of resources, and knowledge, behavior and attitudes. The participants were broken up into administrative, clinical, social, maternal and paternal categories to determine specific influence in each of these areas. Further analysis defined participants' involvement in the categories as mediating, moderating and direct effects on maternal depression. Main contributors to depression were identified as a lack of paternal support, poor cultural values, and administrative resistance. Discussion focuses on consequences for the future.
ContributorsAugur, Haley Rose (Author) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Hagaman, Ashley (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The degree to which adolescents describe themselves as gender typical, as defined by their interests, activities, personal qualities, and other characteristics, is related to a broad range of adjustment indices. The goal of this thesis was to review studies conducted between 2000 and 2017 to provide a summary and critique of this research. A total of 18 studies were reviewed. The majority of findings indicate a positive association between gender typicality and beneficial adjustment outcomes, and a negative association between gender typicality and poor adjustment outcomes. Suggestions for future research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.
ContributorsCohen, Alexandra Danielle (Author) / Updegraff, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Miller, Cindy (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
More than 260 million people suffer from an anxiety disorder worldwide, with 40 million in the U.S. alone—18% of the American population. And that label includes everything from Social Anxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder to phobias and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Thus, people with anxiety may not have a singular cause for their worry, but a myriad number of them that influence every aspect of their lives. And, that doesn’t include people who’ve never been formally diagnosed and don’t receive proper medication or therapy.
Unfortunately, medication has many possible side effects, and both medication and therapy are often expensive. However, there are alternatives for someone dealing with anxiety. This book proposal offers a range of solutions for anxiety management, from do it yourself techniques like guided imagery and yoga, to biofeedback devices like HeartMath, to research trials on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, as well as Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The idea was not to outline every potential solution for anxiety, but to educate people on available opportunities and empower them to take control.
Though anxiety can be managed and reduced, there is no cure. That’s because anxiety is a normal part of life, and in most cases a helpful evolutionary tool to keep people on track. But, when this anxiety becomes a burden on someone’s life, there is a plethora of alternative solutions available. Understanding anxiety and learning to manage it is not an impossible task. This thesis provides an introduction to the idea and then allows the reader to move forward on their own path as they choose.
Unfortunately, medication has many possible side effects, and both medication and therapy are often expensive. However, there are alternatives for someone dealing with anxiety. This book proposal offers a range of solutions for anxiety management, from do it yourself techniques like guided imagery and yoga, to biofeedback devices like HeartMath, to research trials on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, as well as Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. The idea was not to outline every potential solution for anxiety, but to educate people on available opportunities and empower them to take control.
Though anxiety can be managed and reduced, there is no cure. That’s because anxiety is a normal part of life, and in most cases a helpful evolutionary tool to keep people on track. But, when this anxiety becomes a burden on someone’s life, there is a plethora of alternative solutions available. Understanding anxiety and learning to manage it is not an impossible task. This thesis provides an introduction to the idea and then allows the reader to move forward on their own path as they choose.
ContributorsSchneider, Sage Ann (Author) / deLusé, Stephanie (Thesis director) / Boyd, Patricia (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
While previous research has investigated the influence parenting styles have on child behavior, there has not been consistent findings on how child behavior in return influences parenting. This study goes beyond the literature by examining bidirectional influences of combined dyad for emotional availability and early problem behaviors (composited across 12 and 30 months) predicting parental warmth, authoritarian parenting, internalizing, externalizing and ADHD symptoms at age eight. This study also examined whether genetic or environmental factors were driving these behaviors. Participants were from the ongoing Arizona Twin Project (N=340 twin children). 25% of the twins were monozygotic, 35% were same-sex dizygotic, and 35% were opposite-sex dizygotic twins. Preliminary correlations showed bidirectional effects between early emotional availability, problem behaviors and parental warmth, authoritarian parenting, internalizing, externalizing and ADHD symptoms at age eight; however, once twin dependence and covariates were controlled for, the bidirectional effects were no longer significant. One important finding emerged: early problem behaviors were predictive of later problem behaviors at eight years. The study also found that externalizing and ADHD symptoms were more heritable than emotional availability, early problem behaviors, and internalizing symptoms. Therefore, interventions should be developed addressing the environmental influences that contribute to early problem behaviors.
ContributorsKaur, Navneet (Author) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Thesis director) / Miadich, Samantha (Committee member) / Davis, Mary (Committee member) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Hispanic/Latinx college students are at a greater risk for developing problematic alcohol use and negative mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety because they experience contextual stressors (i.e., financial stress, academic stress, peer pressure) and cultural stressors (i.e., bicultural stress, acculturative stress, discrimination). Bicultural stress may be a risk factor for depressive, anxiety, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms. The cultural value of familism may play a protective role in Hispanic/Latinx college students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of bicultural stress on depressive, anxiety, and AUD symptoms in first-year Hispanic/Latinx college students, and the role familism plays on moderating the relationship between bicultural stress and the outcomes. The sample was taken from the Pathways to College Health Study (N = 264; Female = 74.9%), which was survey administered via Qualtrics to first-year, Hispanic/Latinx college students at Arizona State University. The survey captured the participants’ levels of bicultural stress, familism, depressive, anxiety, and AUD symptoms. IBM SPSS Statistics was used for data analyses where three hierarchical regression models were run investigating the main effects and interaction effect of bicultural stress and familism. Results showed that higher levels of bicultural stress were associated with higher levels of mental health but were not associated with higher levels of AUD symptoms. Additionally, familism was not significantly associated with mental health or AUD symptoms suggesting familism may not play a substantial role in Hispanic/Latinx college students. There was no interaction found between familism and bicultural stress on the outcomes. These findings may aide in informing Hispanic/Latinx college students, universities, and clinicians on the impact bicultural stress may have on mental health outcomes.
ContributorsGhazoul, Marilyn (Author) / Su, Jinni (Thesis director) / Corbin, William (Committee member) / Cruz, Rick (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-12
Description
Asian Americans are facing unprecedented and growing mental health issues brought by anti-Asian Racism and other forms of hyper-visible oppression (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). In response to racism, one potential solution for bolstering mental health outcomes among Asian Americans is critical reflection. Critical reflection is the process through which oppressed and marginalized people critically analyze oppressive social conditions (e.g., racism, sexism, and more) and consider actions they can take to change them (Watts et al., 2011). Recent research suggests that, overall, there is a strong link between critical reflection and the well-being of youth of color (Maker Castro et al., 2022). However, this relationship may vary based on additional factors, such as strategies used to cope with racism-related stress. For instance, Asian Americans with lower critical reflection about racism (e.g., as evidenced by endorsement of colorblind racial ideology, or the belief that racial differences are irrelevant and racism no longer exists) had a higher tendency to use avoidant coping mechanisms to deal with discrimination (Yi et al., 2022; Lewis et al., 2019). Additionally, there is other evidence to support that Asian Americans who held more colorblind racial attitudes experienced less anxiety when challenged with ambiguous discrimination compared to Asian Americans who held less colorblind racial attitudes (Lee, 2016). Overall, the literature suggests the importance of the relationship between critical reflection and mental health. However, studies have yet to quantitatively explore the impacts of critical reflection and strategies to cope with discrimination on mental health outcomes among Asian Americans (Spanierman et al., 2021) and young adults (Maker Castro et al., 2022).
The current study seeks to address this gap in the literature by examining the role of strategies to cope with discrimination in the relationship between Asian Americans’ critical reflection and mental health outcomes. It is crucial to explore these factors as Asian American students continue to shoulder prejudice, stereotypes, and systemic racism in professional and educational institutions. We hypothesize that the relationship between critical reflection and mental health will be mediated by the strategies used to cope with discrimination. More specifically, we expect that low levels of critical reflection (as indicated by high levels of color-blind racial attitudes) are related to greater use of internalization, substance use, and detachment strategies to cope with discrimination, which is related to greater endorsement of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms.
Data for this study were drawn from a larger study on college students’ experiences in ethnic studies courses. Participants were 288 Asian Americans recruited from ethnic studies courses at universities in various regions of the United States. During the first two weeks of their ethnic studies course, participants completed an online survey about their racial attitudes, critical consciousness, and psychological well-being. Mediation analyses will be conducted using the PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2022) on SPSS version 27. Critical reflection, as measured by participants’ total mean score on the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes Scale (Neville et al., 2000; Keum et al., 2018) will be included as the independent variable; subscale scores on the Coping with Discrimination Scale (Wei & Alvarez, 2010) will be mediators; and each subscale of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Henry & Crawford, 2005) will be the dependent variable in separate analyses. Relationships between the study variables and Asian subgroup (i.e., East, Southeast, and South Asian) will also be examined.
While analyses are currently ongoing, preliminary findings suggest that strategies to cope with discrimination and mental health outcomes vary between East Asians, Southeast Asians, and South Asians. Additionally, preliminary findings suggest that the use of substance use and detachment to cope with discrimination explains the relationship between low critical reflection and mental health outcomes.
Findings have implications for encouraging mental health specialists and educators to have open conversations about racism while helping those who experience discrimination cope in healthy ways. Thus, this research can contribute to improved psychological well-being of Asian American young adults.
ContributorsInocentes, Angeline (Author) / Ahn, Lydia (Thesis director) / Tran, Alisia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2023-12
DescriptionAn interdisciplinary examination of the relationship between stigma and the language used to discuss mental illness, including a proposed course of action for aiding in the destigmatization of mental illness.
ContributorsOlson, Corinn (Author) / Suk, Mina (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-12
Description
The goal of this project is to address resilience in children by designing mindfulness-based activities that incorporate and promote awareness of mind, being and mental health, and to integrate these resources into existing elementary curricula that focus on using school gardens as teaching platforms.
ContributorsBennett, Brooke (Author) / Briggs, Georgette (Thesis director) / Nelson, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2023-05